The Third Life of Bree Tanner
by anniestasia
Summary: Bree thinks her life is over when she's faced with one of the Volturi's deadliest members, Jane, however the mysterious yellow-eyed coven give her another chance by inviting her into their family. AU where Bree isn't killed by Jane at the end of eclipse.
1. Chapter 1 - A Third Chance

**A/N - So this is my first twilight fanfiction and it's basically just an AU where the Volturi let Bree stay with the Cullens. I'm obsessed with Bree and it's always really upset me that she was killed at the end of eclipse and I think she deserved more, so I thought I'd write a fic where she gets to live. If you have a chance I'd appreciate it massively if you left a review. Thanks!**

 **Disclaimer - I don't own twilight or the characters in it.**

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Chapter 1 - A Third Chance

Despite my apparent lack of knowledge of the vampire world, I was certain that I was about to die. I'd known that the instant I stepped on to the battlefield, however originally I thought my demise would be brought about by the belligerent wolves or the members of the yellow-eyed coven, or even by one of my own coven who'd been caught in a frenzy of violence and decided to go rogue. But no, in the end I was to be killed by the eerily placid vampires in dark cloaks - Volturi, I'd heard them called. I wasn't upset about the fact that I was going to die, after the death of the only person I'd ever truly loved, Diego, I suddenly found myself having very little to live for. I was more nervous about what would happen to me after my body was disassembled and burned. I was never religious in my human life, but after I'd discovered that vampires and evidently now werewolves too were real, I couldn't help but end up believing in some kind of afterlife.

It was time. I closed my eyes and readied myself for the inevitable agony of what was to come, meanwhile mentally thanking Diego for the one day of pure, unadulterated happiness he had given me. I took my final breath.

"Wait."

Or perhaps not.

"We could explain the rules to the young one. She doesn't seem unwilling to learn. She didn't know what she was doing." The redheaded mindreader said before turning to Carlisle for approval.

"Of course," Carlisle agreed. "We would certainly be prepared to take responsibility for Bree." Jane looked from the redhead, to Carlisle, and finally to me with an expression that was an odd mix between amusement and surprise. She'd obviously not expected the yellow-eyes to be so generous, and, for the first time since meeting her, the she-devil seemed to genuinely not know what to do. I knew that Jane's eventual answer would be no, but I was overwhelmed by the kindness of the yellow-eyed vampires nevertheless. I would be eternally grateful to them for trying, even if they knew what the answer would be before they asked. Jane took a few seconds more of pointless deliberation before speaking.

"As long as you are able to keep her under control, I can't see any issues with that arrangement." The air was knocked out of me in shock. I found the idea of a coven like the yellow-eyes even suggesting taking responsibility for me unlikely, but Jane agreeing that they could do so was well into the realm of impossible. I dared a peak at the yellow-eyes' faces. There was a wide range of emotions printed on their features, from Esme's look of joy to the blonde girl's vexed shock, but most of the yellow-eyes simply looked taken aback at Jane's sudden generosity. Like I had suspected, they hadn't considered the possibility that Jane would take them up on their offer to care for me. I wasn't offended, just worried that they'd change their minds and leave me to die. From what little I knew about them, this coven seemed to be so good to and close with one another, something that I'd never experienced in either my first or second life. I could see myself enjoying an existence with them if given the chance.

"You agree that Bree can stay with us?" Carlisle asked.

"Yes. The Volturi don't give second chances to the _guilty_ , and, in my opinion, this girl isn't guilty of anything other than following the orders of other vampires who took her ignorance of our world and used it for their personal gain. If we were to kill anyone today it would be those who's orders she was following, however you seem to have done that for us." Jane concluded in her silvery tone. There was something else about what Jane had said, something hiding underneath her diplomatic words. She had an ulterior motive behind letting me stay with the Cullens, but I didn't care. I watched as Carlisle looked to each member of the coven, including the unbearably delicious smelling human, for a nod of approval. Each gave one without a second's hesitation, except for the slightly scary looking honey-blonde boy, who was unsure for a few moments but eventually nodded, and the ridiculously beautiful blonde girl who neither nodded nor spoke a word. Carlisle finally moved his eyes down to me and broke into a kind smile.

"Bree, welcome to the Cullen family." He said. I got up as quickly as I could, and ran toward the yellow eyes that I now knew as the Cullens or, even more excitingly, my new family. Esme wrapped her arm around me and pulled me into her side, in the process making herself the most motherly figure I'd had since toddler-hood. I was still shaken up and nervous, but now, for the first time in my four months of being a vampire and fifteen years of being a human, I felt safe.

"We thank you for your generosity and understanding." Carlisle said to the Volturi, smile still on his face.

"That generosity and understanding will always be extended to your coven, so long as you continue to obey the laws we put in place." Jane turned her crimson stare to the human before continuing "Which brings us to Bella here. I'm sure you're aware of the law that forbids human knowledge of the vampire world. Perhaps my senses betray me, but it seems to me that Bella is still human. Is Volturi intervention going to be necessary?" Jane asked, keeping her silky voice even. The small Cullen with the black pixie-cut stepped spoke before anyone else could.

"The date has been set. Bella will become a vampire." She said. Jane nodded. Ah - so that's why they were keeping the human around, they were going to turn her.

"Good. I was hoping that would be the case. Our covens have an alliance dating back centuries, I'd hate to see it broken over something as simple as the secrecy law." Jane said, a civil smile on her face. "Since we have no more business to attend to, we'd be best to leave at risk of overstaying our welcome. Thank you, again, for saving us the trouble of dealing with the newborns, and good luck with her." The sadist hit me with one more of her cold glances before disappearing among the trees, along with the rest of her coven. After a few seconds of silence, I turned to the rest of my new family to see all of their yellow eyes on me.

"Thank you. Thank you so much." I gushed. "You have no idea how much this means to me." If I could cry, I was almost certain I would be weeping. The kindness these strangers had shown me was unlike anything I had ever known before, and it was magical.

"You don't need to thank us Bree, we're just glad to have you safe." Esme said, beaming. Her words touched my heart - to hear someone say they cared about me and my safety and mean it was incredible. Nearly everyone in my life as human and as a vampire had only kept me around because there was something I could offer them, extra welfare and a punching bag for my dad and newborn strength for Victoria, but with the Cullens it was different. I had nothing to give them but they still took me in without a second thought. The feeling of love I had for these people was already deeper than the instincts and urges I'd been allowing to control me for the first few months of my new life.

"We're all excited to have you as part of the family. I can already tell you're going to fit in." Said the small, black-haired girl from earlier. "My name is Alice and this" she pulled on the arm of the honey blonde boy "is Jasper." I shot Jasper a small smile. He seemed wary of me but returned the gesture.

"It's very nice to meet you Bree." He said. His voice was a little tight but I could tell he was trying to be friendly. The muscular brunette boy who reminded me of a bear was the next to speak.

"I'm Emmett and the sulky blonde bitch here is Rosalie." He chuckled. Rosalie didn't find his quip funny and pushed her lips into a thin line before crossing her slender arms over her chest. She refused to make eye contact with me and wouldn't say a word. I felt incredibly uncomfortable and out of place, but fortunately the mindreader seemed to picked up on that and spoke.

"My name is Edward." He said "This is Bella, my fiance." He gestured to the human, who then gave me an awkward smile. My throat burned with thirst for her blood. I'd been able to push her scent to the back of my mind because of the constant distractions, but now she was there. In front of me. The temptation was almost too much, I was one tiny lapse in concentration away from slaughtering her. Bella seemed to pick up on this, but, strangely, didn't come across as scared but instead apologetic, like it was somehow her fault that I was being overwhelmed with the urge to drain her of her life force. Edward, once again, came to my rescue.

"I think we should get going. I'll take Bella home." He said. "It's really been wonderful meeting you Bree." Without another word he took Bella on his back and was gone. Within a matter of seconds, her scent was too far away for me to pick up on and I could breathe again.

"He's right. It's been a long day and it's time we showed Bree her new home." Carlisle said. Everyone (except, of course, Rosalie) nodded and without hesitation, we left. As we raced through the woods and back to wherever my new home was, ecstasy took hold of my entire body, filling every inch of my being. At last, I had I a proper, loving, functional family, who weren't, from what I could tell, going to hurt or use me, but simply love me unconditionally. The Cullens represented everything I had craved through both my lives. They were the moms I'd seen on the first day of kindergarten, holding their children close before reluctantly letting them go into the brightly decorated classrooms. They were the dads I saw in the park, cheering when their kid was finally able to ride a bike without any help. They were the older brothers and sisters I'd seen through my freshman year, defending their little siblings from the cowardly bully that was trying to antagonize them. They were the family I'd always wanted and always needed, but never had, except now I did have them, and they had me. I let a smile break my face. I was no longer Bree Tanner with an alcoholic dad with a temper or a coven of instinctual, animalistic, newborn vampires. I was Bree Cullen, who had a mother, a father, siblings and, most importantly, an eternity to spend with them.

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 **A/N - So that was my first chapter! It's not my best work, but I just want to get it out so I can move on to the exciting bits of the story. I know this isn't that long but I'm almost finished writing the next chapter and it's already more than twice the length of this. I'm going to update at least once a week, hopefully more since I'm on summer at the moment so I have a lot of free time. Again, please leave a review if you have the time. Thanks for reading my first chapter!**


	2. Chapter 2 - Lucky Escape

**A/N - Here's the new chapter! I hope you all like it. I'd just like to say a quick thank you to the people that left a review on the last chapter, they really mean a lot to me. I'd really love it if you could take a minute to write one on this chapter, they honestly do make my day. Thank youuuu 3**

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Chapter 2 - Lucky Escape

It had been exactly one month since the Cullens had invited me into their family. The time had flown by, every day I was learning and, at last, living. I'd fill the hours doing whatever I wanted to, whether that was talking with Alice and Esme, being taught everything from history to science by Carlisle, sparring with Emmett and Jasper or learning how to play the piano with Edward. Sadly, I couldn't be in the same room as Bella for more than five minutes due to the fact that the mere mention of her name made my throat burn with thirst for her blood, however in less than two months she'd be a vampire, and I'd be able to spend as much time with her as I wanted to. I was looking forward to getting to know her, she'd been nothing but nice to me every time we saw each other, even though she was fully aware of the fact I was overcome with the desire to exsanguinate her whenever we were within any sort of proximity to each other. Rosalie, on the other hand, was a different story entirely. She'd barely said ten words to me since my arrival in June, and refused to acknowledge my presence in the family. It wasn't like she was actively picking on or being cruel to me, she just seemed to pretend I wasn't there. Esme had tried telling her to stop ignoring me, but Rosalie had argued that she was doing nothing wrong. Esme and Alice had assured me that she would warm to me in time, and Edward, having read her mind, told me she just didn't like the change of having another person in the house, but it still took a hammer to my self esteem.

Another drawback of being a Cullen was the food. It turned out the reason their eyes were yellow wasn't because they were old and weak as Riley had told me, but because they chose to live on the blood of animals rather than that of humans. I'd taken this new lifestyle in my stride, and loved the actual act of hunting, but it was difficult to get used to. Animal blood filled me up and gave me just as much energy as human blood did, but it wasn't the same. It never fully satisfied me, no matter how much I drank, and didn't taste anywhere near as good as the blood of humans, even when that blood was tainted with the bitterness of class A drugs and hard alcohol. I missed human blood immensely, but loved my new family more, so found the strength to stop myself from going on a blood binge around forks.

"Edward, Emmett and I are going hunting, do you want to join us?" Alice asked me. It was a sweltering July morning, a rarity in forks. I'd only eaten 18 hours before, but my insatiable newborn appetite demanded that I went with Alice, Edward and Emmett, so I said yes to Alice's offer and ran with them into the woods. The novelty of being able to run so impossibly fast was still yet to wear off, which was one of the reasons I enjoyed hunting so much. The feeling of the wind hitting my marble skin and the sight of the world blurring around me was unlike anything else I'd experienced in either of my lives.

After drinking a heard of deer dry, we were full and ready to go home, however a phone call from Carlisle hindered our plans of returning back to the house.

"Hey Carlisle, is there something wrong?" Alice asked after accepting Carlisle's call.

"No, everything's fine, but I'm afraid I'm going to need you to wait in the forest for a while - there's a group of about 15 hikers close to the house, and we don't think it would be in their best interests for Bree to come home quite yet." Carlisle said. I felt a sinking feeling in my stomach. I was, once again, inconveniencing everyone else because I was so out of control of my own body that I couldn't be trusted around humans. My family could tell me what they wanted to, but I knew none of them were as animalistic around blood as I was when they were newborns. I was the odd one out and sick of it.

"Ok, we'll wait. Call us when it's safe. Bye." Alice clicked the red button on the phone to end the call before Edward talked.

"You don't have to feel guilty Bree. I promise you it's normal to be like this as a newborn, it'll go away soon." He said, addressing my previous thoughts. I shifted uncomfortably, keeping my eyes on the forest floor. "You can't expect yourself to be exactly the same as we were as newborns. Your first few months as a vampire were very different from all of ours, even Jasper was expected to keep some level of self control. You were just left to run wild through Seattle."

"Not to mention the fact that you got turned much younger than we did." Alice added. They weren't technically wrong - my early days as a vampire and young physical age were less than ideal when it came to controlling newborn thirst and becoming 'vegetarian', but that didn't stop me from feeling bad. I forced myself to meet their gazes. Their golden eyes were soft and kind, but full of pity I didn't want.

"I know. I'm sorry for bothering you all." I said, involuntarily keeping my voice small. Alice sighed and put her arm around me.

"Don't be sorry. You've not done anything to feel sorry for." A boyish grin spread across Emmett's face.

"Alice is right. You should be making the most out of your newborn time; you won't be as strong as me forever." He said, a tone of dare in his voice. I decided to accept his unspoken challenge.

"But Emmett, I'm _not_ as strong as you," I replied, widening my eyes and making my voice as sickly sweet as I could. Emmett raised an eyebrow, pondering my next move. Before he had time to think of what I was about to do, I ran toward him, picked him up with one arm and slammed him on the ground. "I'm stronger." Alice and Edward laughed and cheered behind me, clearly finding humor in the image of a 5'2'', skinny, fifteen year old girl taking down an adult man with muscles that could rival a wrestler's. Emmett quickly got up and shook off the blow.

"You really shouldn't have done that, Bree." He said, a smile creeping into his voice despite his best efforts to sound menacing. He ran back at me, body lowered in a position similar to that of a sprinter starting a race, and, when he made contact with me, launched me up into the air as high as he could. I threw my head back and laughed as I hurtled further and further up into the sky, euphoria consuming me. I reached the climax of my flight about twenty feet above the canopy of the forest. I should've been worrying about being seen by any humans as I descended back toward the earth, but I was having too much fun to care.  
I landed on the forest floor delicately, like a cat that had fallen off a wall. I ran back at Emmett and we continued to wrestle. Alice pulled us apart.

"Come on, you guys know how much Esme hates it when you two play fight." Alice gave us a forced stare of disapproval.

"I know, but Esme isn't here." I returned, wanting to go back to showing off my strength.

"What she doesn't know can't hurt her, Alice." Emmett said with a smirk. Alice sighed and rolled her eyes.

"I swear, you two are beyond-" Alice stopped, her eyes glazing over with a look of terror. It wasn't new for Alice to stop talking mid-sentence, it just meant she was having a vision because of her gift of clairvoyance, but there was something about this particular prediction that was different. I'd never seen Alice look so scared while having a vision. I shifted my gaze over to Edward to see how he was responding to whatever it was that Alice could see, and a near identical look of horror was plastered on his features.

"What is it, what's going on?" I pestered, desperate for information. Neither of them answered. Emmett and I stood, completely motionless, waiting for answers. A few seconds of dead silence passed before Alice came out of her daze.

"We need to get home. Now." She said. Emmett shook his head.

"No, we can't yet, the hikers would still be-" Edward cut him off.

"You don't understand, we can't wait. Bree will just have to hold her breath." I exchanged worried glances with my siblings. I wasn't sure if I'd be able to keep my thirst under control, but I could tell that whatever was going on had left us with no choice. Emmett turned toward me, waiting for my response.

"I'll be alright, let's just go." I said, forcing a smile. The four of us ran as fast as we could back to the house. As we got closer, I could smell the hikers Carlisle had warned us about. The attraction to their blood wasn't as unbearable as it could've been since I'd just fed, but it was still there. I made myself run in the opposite direction to them despite everything in my brain and body telling me to do otherwise, and, after what seemed like forever but was probably only one or two minutes, we arrived home. Esme stood just in the door, greeting us with a smile that immediately fell when she saw Alice and Edward's faces.

"What's wrong?" She asked. Carlisle, Jasper and Rosalie all walked over to us from the couch they'd been sitting on.

"I... I don't know how I didn't see it sooner, they must have found a loophole in my visions or something but... I..." Alice stammered, unable to get the words from her mouth. Carlisle put his hands on Alice's shoulders and spoke to her in a soothing voice.

"Alice, calm down and tell us what you saw." Alice took a deep breath before explaining what was happening.

"The Volturi - they're coming here." My stomach dropped and my world stopped. Anything, anything except them. Carlisle, somehow remaining composed, talked next.

"Do you have any idea why?" His voice stayed perfectly tranquil, but his eyes gave him away, he was as panicked as the rest of us. Alice shook her head in answer to his question.

"They're coming for me." I said, my mouth speaking before my brain could filter what I was going to say. Everyone in the room turned to me, waiting for an explanation for my outburst. "There's nothing else it could be. They know Bella's getting turned after the wedding and we haven't done anything that could make the humans suspicious. They're coming to kill me." The room stayed quiet. It was clear they weren't saying anything because they knew I was right. I could almost hear them racking their brains for an alternative reason for the Volturi's visit, but they wouldn't be able to think of anything. The deafening silence hung heavy in the room for what could've been an eternity, but was eventually broken by Carlisle.

"We don't know anything for sure, Bree. There's no need to jump to conclusions."

"Then what other reasons could they have for being here? Aro must have thought Jane made the wrong decision and now they want me dead before everyone finds out. You all know it's true." I hung my head. I couldn't bear to look at them anymore; all that did was remind me how little time I had left with my family. The deadly silence was back, confirming that they all thought what I was saying was true.

"No. This isn't going to happen." Esme said, shaking her head. "We'll just have to get some people here. We can get our cousins from denali, and I think some of the werewolves would be willing to help-"

"Esme, there's no time." Alice cut in, interrupting the formation of Esme's plan. "We haven't got days or even hours to figure this out, they're going to be here in thirty minutes." Esme stared at Alice in shock, before turning her face to look at me.

"I can't just let them murder her." She whispered, an audible wince going around the room on the word 'murder'.

"They won't. We won't let them." Said Alice, taking my hand in hers. The other vampires in the room nodded in agreement. I let a small smile make its way onto my face. I knew there was little they could do, but if I was going to die, I was going to die loved, and that was more than I could ever have asked for in the past.

The next twenty-five minutes passed in a blur. Alice told us they expected our entire coven, including Bella, to be waiting in the clearing in the woods where we played baseball when there was a thunderstorm. Esme had tried to get us to call the werewolves and ask them for their help, but Carlisle wouldn't let her, saying that the Volturi would be angry at an alliance with werewolves, and only Seth and maybe Jacob would be willing to help anyway. Everyone was frantically trying to come up with ways to overpower the Volturi if it came to it but, unsurprisingly, no one had any ideas.

Eventually, it was time for us to go down to the clearing and wait for the Volturi. Every cell in my body was shaking with anxiety - I was so scared that not even the smell of Bella's blood was able to distract me from the fear welling up inside me.

"They're close. I can hear their minds now." Edward said when we arrived at the meeting place. I tensed up and looked around at my family. All of them were standing still with their eyes fixed open, staring down the line of trees Alice said the Volturi were going to emerge from. No one, not even Bella, dared to breathe. After a period of time that was both too long and too short, the ominous cloaks moved soundlessly from the trees toward us, all in a perfectly straight, unrelenting line. As soon as I saw them, I counted how many of their coven they'd brought with them. Seven. Technically, we outnumbered them with our coven of nine, but Bella, as much as I liked her, wasn't going to be much help if it came to a fight, and the Volturi had Jane who could, if she needed to, torture us into submission. Despite my relentless wishful thinking, I knew there was nothing we'd be able to do if the Volturi wanted me dead.

The dark line of vampires stopped walking toward us and, in unnaturally perfect synchronicity, lowered the hoods of their cloaks. The vampire in the center of the line who I recognized as Aro stepped forward.

"Hello Carlisle, it's so wonderful to see you again." He said, a 'friendly' smile on his face.

"It's been too long." Carlisle replied. "To what do we owe the pleasure?" I bit the inside of my cheek, trying to stop myself from breaking down in fear.

"Jane told me about the new member of your coven and I was intrigued, to say the least. We were in the area on business anyway so I thought it would be nice if we dropped by to... check up on young Bree's progress." Aro finished, his soft voice equanimous. I made eye contact with several members of my family, all knowing that Aro wasn't telling the whole truth. I hadn't had much time to learn about the ins and outs of the Volturi, but I knew it took a lot for Aro to leave the Volturi's castle in Volterra, and nothing had been happening in the entire north of America that was important enough for Aro to want to join his guard in investigating.

"She's doing excellently, not a single-" Aro raised his hand, cutting Carlisle's words of praise for me off.

"As much as I trust you and your judgement Carlisle, I think it would be best if I saw for myself." Aro turned his milky red stare to me and beckoned me forward with his raised hand. "Come, child." The ancient vampire said. I glanced over to Carlisle for approval. He nodded, signalling for me to walk over to Aro.  
Cautiously, I stepped toward the wall of dark cloaks and pale faces, taking as long as I could to reach them without making it obvious how paralyzingly afraid I was. Eventually, I was standing before the Volturi. I looked along the line of vampires, taking in each of them as one at a time. Other than Aro, I immediately recognized Jane, however I soon realized that the boy to her left was her twin brother, Alec, due to the striking similarity of their features. Something was strange about Alec and the way his scarlet stare fixated on me. All the members of the Volturi that were present had their eyes firmly on me, but Alec's gaze was different. The others in his coven were merely looking at me because I was the center of attention in that moment, but Alec's stare was deep and intense, almost even curious. I held eye contact with him for a second before forcing my focus off him and back to Aro.

"If you would please give me your hand." He asked. I obeyed quickly and wordlessly, wanting nothing more than to run back to the other Cullens and away from the dark-cloaked tyrants that could murder me in a second. When I put my hand into Aro's, something strange happened. I knew that his power was to read a person's every thought when he made physical contact, but I hadn't been prepared for the sensation of having my entire life play out for him. Every moment of my sixteen years that I could remember flashed behind my eyes like a projector playing back millions of pictures at impossible speeds. Memories I didn't realize I still had were also making a reappearance, there were even images of my mother, who I hadn't seen since I was two. It was over in a matter of seconds, but it felt like it could've been years. Aro released my hand..

"Hmm. Certainly an interesting read." He said to himself, his voice soft and melodic. "I hope you don't mind, but I'm just going to have Alec use his gift on you while we... discuss the matters at hand." Aro gave a civil but tight smile. Something was bothering him, I wasn't sure what, but he was undoubtedly having a problem.

"I don't know if Alec will be able to anesthetize Bella." Edward chimed in.

"Ah yes - I almost forgot dear Bella over here had such abilities. It'll certainly be fascinating to see if Bella can block Alec's gift too, however I find it highly unlikely that she'll be able to hear our conversation in her current state." Aro concluded. A small snicker escaped from a few of the Volturi guards, finding humor in Bella's mortality. Aro looked to Alec, who's eyes were still fixed on me in the same way I had noticed earlier. "Now please, Alec." He demanded, sure to keep his voice calm. Suddenly, a strange mist-like substance emanated from Alec's fingertips. It was almost clear, and would probably have been pretty much invisible to the human eye, however my keen vampire eyesight picked up on it. It crept along the ground unnaturally, making its way toward me. When it reached me, it snaked its way up my leg and into my nose, mouth, ears and eyes. For a second, I could feel it inside me, slithering around my body and filling me up, but after that second was over, nothing. All my senses went to complete black. I could still think, but everything else was gone. Although it wasn't the nicest feeling to be left completely deaf, blind, mute and unable to feel or smell anything happening around me, I was grateful for the time I was being given to contemplate what was going to happen next. I hadn't done anything to make Aro want me dead since becoming a Cullen, he'd read my mind so he knew that, but something told me that if the Volturi wanted to kill me, then that's what they'd do, whether I'd committed a crime or not. There was even the disturbing chance that I was being ripped apart and burned while under the influence of Alec's power. It was a definite possibility, I could feel literally nothing of the world around me so anything could be happening to my body. A part of me that remained hopeful though, the Volturi had had plenty of time and chances to kill me already and I doubted that they'd spend time 'discussing the matters at hand' if they'd known my fate before arriving. After a few minutes, I was snapped out of my speculations by the return of my senses. I took a deep breath, I was about to find out if I really had the eternity with the Cullens I'd hoped for. Aro looked down at me with a forced smile before looking up and addressing my family.

"We're very happy with how Bree's doing, she hasn't drawn any negative attention to herself in the month she's been with you." I let out the breath I'd been subconsciously holding, but I was still hesitant to trust what Aro was saying. He might have sounded pleased with me then, but I wouldn't have put it past him to tell us everything was fine before launching an ambush and killing us all.

"So you aren't going to hurt her?" Esme asked, motherly concern obvious in her question. Aro widened his eyes, as if he was offended at the mere suggestion that he and the other members of the Volturi had come for any other reason than to check on how well I was settling in to life with the Cullens.

"No, of course not, we have no intention of harming Bree unless she does something that breaks our laws." I looked back at my family. They all had expressions within the spectrum of relief, all except Edward, who's face mirrored my wariness. "We can trust you not to do that, can't we Bree?" Aro asked.

"Yes." I said, my throat almost too dry to speak.

"Excellent!" Aro clasped his hands together in delight. "Thank you all for your time. Bree, it has been lovely to meet you." Aro beamed. Without another word, he and the rest of the Volturi had left to return to whichever circle of hell it was that they came from. The second they were gone, I was met with crushing hugs from Esme, kind words from Alice, laughter about my level of panic from Emmett and, of course, rudeness from Rosalie.

"So all of that was for nothing?" The blonde said, her tone short and irritated. "Well, thanks for the waste of time, I guess." Esme shot her a look that could kill.

"Bree had every right to be worried, stop being so insensitive." Esme held me tighter, like she was trying to protect me from what Rosalie was saying.

"Except she didn't really, did she? The Volturi could've been here for so many reasons, she didn't need to get herself and everyone else so worked up about it." Rosalie snapped.

"No, Bree was right, the Volturi were here to kill her." Edward said. Everyone turned to face him, silenced by his revelation.

"What? They couldn't have been, if they wanted her dead then-" Edward cut Rosalie off.

"I heard it in their thoughts when we had our senses taken away. They'd been guarding their minds up until that point, actively trying to not think about why they were there, but they must have assumed Alec's power would block my mindreading so they let their thoughts come naturally while we were deprived of our senses. Their original plan was to kill Bree while Alec had us under control, no matter what she showed Aro when he looked into her mind." Edward finished. I exchanged a confused glance with Esme. This was completely out of character for the Volturi, if they wanted someone dead, they died. Something was very, very wrong.

"Then what stopped them from killing her?" Esme asked. Edward paused before speaking.

"Alec. He asked Aro not to kill her." I took a sharp intake of breath. I hadn't been expecting that.

"Alec? Why?" I questioned. None of this made sense. My brothers and sisters had told me about Alec and Jane, or 'the witch twins' as Emmett called them. They were both known for relishing in other people's pain and misery, why would one of them deprive themselves of an opportunity to see someone killed? Even Carlisle seemed puzzled.

"He wasn't sure, it was like he hadn't figured out his reason for wanting you alive, he just sort of knew he did." Everyone was looking at me now, searching me for answers. I looked down, feeling awkward under the scrutiny of my family. I was conflicted on how to feel, on the one hand, I was overcome with relief, but there was also a feeling of confusion. What was it that had made this boy want to spare me? Why did he care? I shifted my gaze up to Carlisle, who was making intense eye contact with Edward. I recognized what a stare like that meant almost immediately; Carlisle was telling Edward something through his thoughts, something he didn't want the rest of us to hear.

"It's a possibility." Edward murmured, trying to keep his voice low in the hope that the rest of us wouldn't notice. Unfortunately for him, I did.

"What's a possibility?" I asked.

"Nothing of importance." Carlisle lied, his usual fatherly smile breaking on his lips.

"Please just tell me, I-" Edward interrupted me before I could finish.

"Bree, you don't need to know." I opened my mouth to protest, but said nothing, deciding to drop the matter. They weren't going to tell me anything, no matter how much I pressed them for answers, so there was nothing I could do except let it go. Besides, I had bigger things to worry about. There was the possibility that Alec would change his mind and the Volturi would come back and follow through with their original plan. Even if I hadn't been killed today, I was still on the Volturi's radar, which, from what I could tell, was never a good thing. I let out a long sigh. Was a a few peaceful months while I settled in to my new life really too much to ask? All my problems - from the burning newborn thirst to the cult of vampire authoritarians who could come and kill me at a moment's notice - were crushing me. I desired nothing more than for everything to be alright, for my perfect forever with the Cullens to begin. Maybe for once the universe would give me what I wanted.

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 **A/N - Hope you enjoyed this chapter. I know it's a little weird to just straight away do a jump to a month after the first chapter but I tried writing a second chapter that was set when Bree got to the Cullen house and it just didn't work so this was kind of the only way I could do it. Please tell me what you thought, thank you for reading!**


	3. Chapter 3 - White Wedding

**A/N - Finally I have the new chapter up. I know it's a little late buuuuut it was my birthday this Sunday so I was busy all weekend and this is a really long chapter (it's literally longer than the other two chapters combined). I actually found the first half of it strangely difficult to write, I'm not sure why, but that ended up taking the most time.**

 **I got a really brilliant review from a guest the other day which I'd just like to reply to because they gave me some critiques and a question:**

 **I know the pacing is a little fast and I actually regret that I didn't try harder to write more Cullen stuff (I did try writing an second chapter that was set when Bree arrived at the Cullen house but it was a boring to read and write so I scrapped it), but I can't really change it now so I have to just make the most of it. I'm glad you like the pacing though. And as for what you were saying about Bree being more apprehensive, I considered that when I was writing the first chapter and I think it would work but in my interpretation of Bree's character, all she really wants is a loving and supportive family, so in that situation she'd more at ease with the Cullens straight away because they're offering her the thing she wants the most. It is down to your interpretation of her though. As for your last question about Fred, I want to avoid giving away anything about the plot, but I will say that when I haven't forgotten about him. But thank you very much for your review, and to all my other readers, please don't be afraid to give me critiques. As long as they aren't mean or rude, I really do appreciate them because I'm not a professional writer so it helps me out a lot. Sorry it's been a really long note, enjoy the chapter.**

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Chapter 3 - White Wedding

"Alice, I'm not wearing that." I said. "It looks ridiculous." Alice wrung her hands in exasperation.

"What could _possibly_ be wrong with this one?" She questioned. I stared at her in disbelief, it seemed impossible to me that she couldn't understand what my issues were with this particular dress. It was a disgusting sickly green color and the skirt of the thing stuck out like a meringue, however my main problem was the fact that the neckline plunged almost to my navel, showing off cleavage I didn't, and would never have. I gestured toward my chest, hoping she'd get the message without me having to say it out loud in a house full of vampires who could hear every word I spoke. My adopted sister rolled her eyes but understood. "Alright, fine, I have a couple more you can try." We'd been doing this all day, she'd bring out a dress for me to try on and I'd reject it. It wasn't like I was being fussy for no reason, the dress I picked would be what I wore to Bella and Edward's wedding the next day. I'd tried to convince Alice to sort out what Rosalie and I were going to wear a few weeks in advance of the wedding, but according to Edward she deliberately wanted to order the dresses in with only a day or so to spare so we couldn't just go up to Port Angeles and buy the first thing we saw.

Alice brought out the next dress. It didn't immediately strike me as unwearable, however I remained wary, there could be any number of nasty surprises hidden within its fabric. I put it on at vampire speed and looked in the mirror.

"What do you think?" She asked, her voice hopeful. The dress was still a little much for me, but I knew it was as simple as anything Alice had picked out would get.

"It's pretty. I'll wear it." A triumphant smile lit up Alice's face as she stood and clasped her hands together in joy.

"I knew I'd be able to get you in Versace! I'll get you the shoes that go with this one later." I rolled my eyes, I'd never met anyone who loved fashion quite as much as Alice did. I changed back into my regular clothes, not wanting to risk getting my new dress dirty. As I turned around to put the gown on a hanger, my eyes fell on the wedding invite that was sitting on the dresser. I felt a tug of anxiety pull at my stomach. Although I'd been excited about the wedding since finding out it was taking place, it had also caused me no end of stress for the past two months. The majority of the guests were human and I, being a newborn vampire, wasn't exactly my best self around humans. Alice had looked into the future at what would happen at the wedding if I went and she was certain that nothing would go wrong, but I still couldn't help but worry. Carlisle had assured me that I'd made enough progress over my time with the Cullens to attend, which wasn't untrue, but what he didn't know was how much pain being around humans put me in, not that this lack of awareness was his fault. A few weeks before the wedding Alice had taken me to Seattle late at night to see how effectively I could control my thirst around a higher number of humans. I'd managed to resist the urge to drink their blood, but when Alice asked me if I'd been in any pain at all, I said no, even though the entire time I felt like someone was shoving a white hot poker down my throat. It was a stupid thing to lie about, if I'd told them the truth I doubt anyone would expect me to go to the wedding. I didn't even know why I said it, but what's done is done and it was too late to tell them how much the thirst burned. I'd just have to deal with the consequences.

I spent the evening distracting myself from the apprehension bubbling away under my skin by helping Alice with the plethora of last minute preparation that was needed for the wedding before going on a hunt that lasted most of the night. Eventually the sun came up and Bella arrived to get ready, and I faced my first test of the day: resisting her blood.

As soon as she got through the door, I was straight away hit with her almost sickly sweet scent. Heat began to dance in my throat, but it wasn't unbearable. Uncomfortable, yes, but not unbearable.

"Hi Bella." I said shyly

"Hello." She returned, giving me a small smile. I took a cautious breath, wondering if perhaps I'd be able to keep my sense of smell while Bella was the only human around me. I felt the desire to drink from her her prickle in my mouth, but I could control it. Maybe it was the time I'd spent around her, but I'd built up a decent resistance to Bella's smell. It didn't get to me as much as it had when I'd first met her two months before.

"Alright, let's get started." Alice said, her voice filled with excitement. Alice, Rosalie, Bella and I all went upstairs together to get ready. "Rosalie, you do Bree's hair and makeup and I'll do Bella's." The pixie-like vampire instructed. I shot Alice a glare. Rosalie was yet to start talking to me and it was very obvious this was just another of Alice's plans to get us to 'form sisterly bonds'. Rosalie looked over to Alice, a similar stare to mine in her eyes.

"What? Alice you promised-" Rosalie begun before being cut off by Alice.

"Rosalie I don't have the time to argue, I need to get Bella ready. Can you please just do what I tell you to?" The blonde opened her mouth to speak but was silenced by a look from Alice that said 'I'm not changing my mind'. Rosalie gave an irritated sigh before grabbing my wrist and pulling me down the hall toward her room.

"Whatever." She muttered as we walked away. Before I knew what was happening, we were alone together for the first time, and I didn't like it. I sat down on the chair in front of the large dressing table and she pulled my hair into a ponytail so she could do my makeup. We sat in silence for a few minutes, the obvious tension hanging in the air like a dark cloud.

"Why do you hate me?" I blurted out before I could stop myself. Rosalie stopped applying makeup to my face, visibly taken aback by my sudden outburst. The heavy silence returned for what felt like forever before the girl who was supposed to be a sister to me spoke.

"I don't hate you." She raised her hand to go back to my makeup but I quickly stopped her, grabbing her wrist and staring her into her eyes.

"Then why do you ignore me? I haven't had a full conversation with you since I got here and I sure as hell know it isn't because I'm not trying. All I want is an explanation." I said, my mouth speaking before my brain could filter what came out of it. I was shocked at how angry my voice was, I hadn't realized until that moment exactly how much it bothered me that I did everything I could to get Rosalie to like me and the girl still paid me dust.

"It's complicated. I wouldn't expect a kid to understand." She said.

"I'll try my very hardest." I returned sarcastically, growing more and more irritated by her infuriatingly patronizing demeanor. Rosalie wrestled her wrist from my grip and set the makeup she'd been holding down, her face suggesting that she was equally annoyed by me as I was by her.

"Fine, you wanna know? I'll tell you. We're going to have to change everything because of you. When we move next our story will have to be completely different because it won't make sense anymore with as many people as we'll have, we have to make every plan with you in mind because you're always so close to fucking up and killing everyone and we all have to walk on eggshells around poor little newborn Bree. The dynamic of this family is now completely different because of you. I've spent more than eighty years trying to be ok with the life I have now and just as I'm getting used to how things have to be, you and Bella come along and make everything change again." I stayed silent, suddenly guilty. I had no idea how to respond to what she'd said, when Edward had told me she was irritated about the change I caused I'd assumed the change she was upset about was the lack of attention she was getting. I hadn't even considered the idea that maybe it was something deeper, that my presence meant her entire world was turned upside down again.

"I'm sorry." I said, my voice almost a whisper. "I didn't realize what me being here did to you." Rosalie's face softened, the anger I saw on it before disappearing before my eyes to be replaced with shame.

"Don't say that. It isn't your fault. It's mine. I'm meant to be an adult, and adults don't hold their own problems against kids who can't help what they are. It's gonna be hard for me to adjust again, I know that, but I shouldn't be trying to make things hard for you too. _I'm_ sorry." She gave me a small smile.

"Thank you." I returned her smile.

"Can I go back to your makeup now?" She asked.

"Yeah, we're probably getting late." Rosalie finished applying the makeup to my face. I looked good, she'd done an excellent job, but being physically attractive wasn't really something I payed much thought to anymore, I'd spent the last six months of my life almost exclusively around beings who all possessed otherworldly beauty, at some point the novelty wore off and prettiness didn't effect me anymore. Rosalie moved on to my hair.

"What are you gonna do?" I asked.

"With your hair? Well, I'm gonna curl it first, then do it in a messy chignon." My face fell into an expression of confusion, I had no idea what she'd just said. She could've been speaking Aramaic for all I knew.

"A messy what?" Rosalie rolled her eyes in faux irritation.

"Just trust me. It'll look cute." She pulled out a curling iron, switched it on and started. "So what's your dress like?"

"Oh, um, it's a sort of silvery blue color and it has beading all down the front. If I'm honest it's a little much for me, but I figured it was the closest thing to understated Alice was going to get."

"Yeah, I get what you mean. Did she make you try the yellow one that was made out of raincoat material?" Rosalie asked.

"The one with the blue belt? I thought she was joking when she showed me it."

"No." Rosalie said. "She was serious."

"I can hear you two, you know! And that dress was Gucci!" Alice shouted from the next room. Rosalie and I dissolved into a fit of giggles. It was nice being friendly with Rosalie. Up until that point, it hadn't felt like I was completely a part of the family since she was refusing to acknowledge me as one, but she was finally treating me like a little sister and it made everything right. Rosalie put down the curling iron and started to put my hair in some sort of style at the nape of my neck.

"Finished." She said after about twenty minutes. I glanced up at her face, she looked proud, she was clearly happy with her work. I looked over to the mirror and I could immediately see why, my hair was in a sort of intricate but purposefully messy bun at the bottom of my head, with curly tendrils framing both sides of my face.

"That looks beautiful." I said

"I know." Rosalie replied. I smiled at her cockiness.

"You're- "

"Talented? Brilliant? Incredible? Amazing?" She interrupted with a grin.

"I was going to say 'full of yourself' but I think that proves my point." Rosalie responded with a laugh. The pair of us went back into the room where Alice was still doing Bella's hair. We were met with a glare from Alice.

"I'm not talking to either of you until you take back what you said about the dress. It's one of the best pieces from the Gucci Autumn/Winter collection and should be treated with the respect it deserves." Rosalie and I glanced at each other, both trying to hold back giggles.

"Okay, we're sorry for upsetting your _lovely_ raincoat dress." Rosalie said sarcastically. I lost my control and fell back laughing.

"Go on, joke away! I'll be the one laughing next spring when waterproof material is the height of fashion and you're all wearing it." Alice huffed. It took a few minutes, but eventually Rosalie and I calmed down.

"You look really pretty Bree." Bella said. I gave her a friendly smile.

"Thanks, you look beautiful too." I wasn't lying, she looked gorgeous. Her eyes were large and doey and her cheeks had a rosy glow. She was every bit a bride. I looked over at the clock, it read 10:45, we had another forty-five minutes to go. "Hey, Alice, when should Rosalie and I get changed?" I asked.

"You could go now, but you still have- " Alice stopped dead in her sentence as her eyes glazed over momentarily. "Renee and Charlie are three minutes away." My stomach dropped. Rosalie, Alice and Bella all turned to me. I started to panic straight away, which was, judging by Rosalie's reaction, clear as day on my face.

"Don't stress out, Bree. You're going to be fine." Rosalie assured.

"No, I'm just gonna and get changed and-"

"You're going to have to say hello to them eventually, you might as well get it over with. Just put in your contacts." Alice said. I went to protest, but didn't bother. Alice was right, it was going to happen whether I liked it or not, and I needed to make sure I could handle new humans. I took the box of dark brown contacts and went to the bathroom to put them in. They were uncomfortable, but I didn't have a choice, somehow I got the feeling that my orange-red eyes wouldn't make the best first impression on those I met. I went back into Alice's room and was immediately hit with the scents of two humans coming from downstairs. Alice wrapped her arm around me which, although a comforting gesture, was probably to hold me back in case I lost control. Rosalie started a conversation with Bella, most likely so it didn't look like we were standing and waiting when Charlie and Renee walked in, but I couldn't hear a word they were saying. All my senses were focused on controlling my thirst. I felt them getting closer and closer, up stairs and along corridors, until they were right on the other side of the door to Alice's room.

"Oh my god! My baby Bella!" I turned my head to the doorway where Bella's parents were standing, her mother had been the one to speak first. She had a very sweet scent, almost as sweet as Bella's. It was mouthwatering. "You look so beautiful." She said, her voice full of emotion. She walked over to the front of the room where Bella was sitting and gave her a tight squeeze. Charlie followed Renee in, a little more awkward than the mother of his daughter.

"Hey Bells." He said, also giving her a quick hug. Renee turned to the rest of us.

"Let me guess, Alice, Rosalie." She pointed to both girls as she said their names, guessing correctly. They nodded, and she walked over to them, giving both of them hugs just like the one she'd given Bella. "And I'm guessing you're Bree?" Renee asked.

"Yes, that's right." I said, my voice quiet.

"Oh god, you're might just be the cutest little thing I've ever seen!" She exclaimed. She stepped toward me and crushed me in a hug. My senses went insane from the proximity to her blood. Alarm bells rung in my mind and all I wanted to do was drain her, to taste the blood I could feel coursing through her veins as she squeezed me. I looked over Renee's shoulder to see Alice, Rosalie and Bella stiffen. They all knew that I could be a split second away from bringing everything crashing down. I held my breath in the hope that it could do something, anything to lessen the burn of the raging fire I felt in my throat. After a second/century, Renee let go and went back over to her daughter. They all talked about something, but I didn't listen. The scorching pain in my throat was still there, but for that moment it was second to something else: the overwhelming pride I felt. My mouth had been fractions of an inch away from a human neck, a direct pathway into ten pints of the very thing I craved most. And I'd resisted. I'd reached a point in my self control where I was able to stop myself from drinking a human, even when they were pressing themselves right up against me. All the hard work I'd been putting in to ignoring the urges that used to control me had paid off, and although I still had a very long way to go in my self control, it was a sign that I would eventually be able to overcome my thirst. At some point I sensed a break in the conversation.

"I'm gonna go and get changed into my dress, but it was really lovely meeting both of you." I said.

"It was lovely to meet you too sweetie. We'll see you later." Renee replied. I smiled at her and Charlie before leaving the room and skipping down the hall. I changed into my dress and sat in a chair in the corner of my bedroom, alone with my thoughts. I had nothing but excitement for the rest of the day, because now I knew I'd be fine. No visions from Alice or knowledge of newborns from Carlisle could ever have reassured me that I would be able to cope with humans as much as that had. I didn't know how long I sat there, thinking about all the things I'd be able to do now I had good enough self control to be hugged by a human but still resist their blood, but after what must have been quite a while Alice came in, a huge grin on her face, which I couldn't help but return.

"I'm so proud of you!" She said, keeping her voice low so Charlie and Renee couldn't hear.

"I'm proud of me too." I replied. "I know I can deal with all the people at the wedding now. I wasn't sure before, but now I am." Alice's smile widened.

"That's excellent Bree. I knew you'd be able to do this." She said. I suddenly found myself overcome with love for my adopted sister. She'd done everything within her power to help make my transition period between wild newborn to controlled Cullen as easy as it could be and I couldn't be more grateful.

"Thank you, Alice. For everything. I wouldn't have been able to do this without you."

"No problem. I'm happy to help you. Now come on, we're already running late." She said. I stood up and followed her out to the wedding, a new bounce in my step.

As soon as I was out of the front door, I was instantly assaulted with a blend of different human scents. It was a lot to cope with, but my new found confidence told me I'd be able to deal with it. Alice and I walked down to where the ceremony was going to be held and found our seats. I'd been put between Alice and Esme in the front row. I was thankful for my seating placement since it not only meant I was with two of my favorite people, but also that the smells of hot blood were behind me where it was easier to pretend they didn't exist. I shut off my breathing completely and promised myself that I would try to enjoy the ceremony. It was going to be the first wedding I'd ever been to and I didn't want to spend it concentrating on my thirst. We were seated for a little over a minute before the soft music that signaled Bella's arrival began to play. Everyone turned to the back of the aisle to see Bella and Charlie standing together, waiting to walk down. I couldn't help but smile when I saw her, not only because she looked angelic in her long white gown, but also because of the look on her face when she saw Edward. Where she'd previously seemed anxious and uncomfortable, the moment she laid eyes on her soon-to-be-husband, it all turned to love. Bella made her way down the aisle with her father, her gate clumsy as ever. They took their time but eventually the pair made it to the front of the ceremony and, after giving his daughter one last kiss on the cheek, Charlie sat down in his chair.

Bella and Edward said their vows, exchanged rings and shared a long kiss. It was like a fairy tail, the ceremony was romantic and when Bella and Edward kissed everyone stood up and clapped. It exceeded all my expectations. After it was finished, Alice ushered everyone into the area where the wedding meal would be held and told us to find our seats. Fortunately, everyone on my table was a vampire. Well, almost everyone. I'd been put with Jasper, Alice and a member of the Denali coven, Irina, I think, but there was one boy on our table who had dark hair and skin too tanned to be a vampire. Looking at his face, he couldn't have been older than sixteen, but he towered higher than most of the other guests, at least six foot, but all that registered after his disgusting smell.

"Sorry, what's your name?" I asked the boy.

"Oh, hi. I'm Seth." He said. I paused for a split second before I remembered where I knew that name. Seth was the wolf who Edward said had 'pure and kind' thoughts. "I know who you are. You're Bree." I raised an eyebrow at him.

"A little creepy, but hi Seth." He gave a sweet little grin that I couldn't help but return before pulling out my chair and gesturing for me to sit down. "Wow, you're quite the gentleman, aren't you?" His grin turned to a chuckle as he sat in his own seat.

"I try. The food already smells good, don't you think so?" I narrowed my eyes, surely he knew what I was?

"It's, uh, not really my sort of thing." I said hesitantly. Seth's face remained straight for a moment longer before it split into a smile and then a huge laugh. I sat, confused and unsure of the joke.

"I'm sorry, I'm just messing with you. I know you're more of an AB positive kind of girl." I let out a sigh of relief - I didn't want to have to explain to Seth why I wouldn't be eating the food I got served. "So, what _do_ you kid vampires do in your free time?" He asked.

"First, you're, like, five, so if I'm a kid, you're a kid, and second, are you really asking me what I do in my free time?" I returned.

"Yep." I raised an eyebrow but humored him.

"Well, I like to read and listen to music mostly but I play piano sometimes too." The boy sat back in his chair and huffed.

"Is that really it? Don't you swim across the pacific ocean or anything? I guess you vamps are duller than I thought." He said with a smile in his voice. I rolled my eyes before talking.

"If you wanted cool vampire stuff then you could've just asked."

"Fine. I want cool vampire stuff." I gave him a chuckle for that.

"Alright, well, Emmett and Jasper and I wrestle each other sometimes and that's ended in quite a few knocked-down trees and a rock slide or two." Seth snorted. "What's so funny?" I asked.

"Sorry, I just can't imagine you taking on Emmett. I mean the guy's built like a bear. Isn't it a little dangerous?"

"Nah, you can't hurt a vampire unless you're seriously trying to. Besides, I'm pretty evenly matched with Emmett strength-wise." I explained. It was Seth's turn to raise an eyebrow now.

"Somehow I just don't believe that." He said.

"No, seriously, I am just as strong as Emmett. It's one of the few perks of being a newborn vampire, the lingering human blood in our tissues makes us stronger than normal vampires. It wears over a year but luckily for me I'm still only six months in." Seth's face fell into another one of his smirks.

"I reckon I could still beat you in a fight."

"Oh, you think so?" I said.

"Absolutely."

"I think you're sorely mistaken. I'd take you down anytime, anywhere."

"Ooo, is that a challenge?" He retorted, leaning forward in his chair slightly, a gesture which I responded to by leaning back. He didn't seem to notice that I'd moved away from him, but I silently promised myself not to do it again in case I hurt his feelings.

"Maybe." I answered.

"Good, I love a challenge." Before I could reply, a waiter arrived with food for our table.

"Thank you." I said. He turned to acknowledge my thanks but, upon making eye contact, stumbled back and nearly fell over, saving himself only by grabbing on to the table next to ours. Seth snickered into his food and the waiter looked mortified.

"I'm welcome- no, I mean y-you. You're welcome. I- uh... I'll just.." He gestured behind him and walked away, cursing under his breath. I looked at Seth, utterly bewlidered.

"What was that about?" I asked. Seth rolled his eyes before answering, his mouth still full.

"Oh come on, isn't it obvious?" I didn't answer, unsure of what he meant. "It's 'cause you're hot." I felt my eyes bulge at the boy's words. I knew I was pretty by human standards, all vampires were, but I wasn't used to people openly acknowledging it. I'd been a plain human, and all the time I'd spent in my attractive vampire state was around other, just as attractive if not more so vampires. I cast my eyes down to the plate of food and pushed it around with my fork.

"Um, thank you, I guess." I said. I never had been good at accepting compliments. Seth snickered again before turning his attention back to his meal. It didn't take him long to finish his food, he wolfed it down (ha), and was straight away eyeing my untouched plate. "You can have it if you want it." Seth didn't hesitate in pulling my food away and eating that too. After around thirty minutes, the waiter was back to collect our plates. He'd apparently collected himself, he exuded an air of confidence now.

"How was your meal?" He asked, clearly directing his question at me.

"It was amazing, really hit the spot." Seth said. The waiter gave him an irritated smile, to which Seth replied with a huge smirk. The waiter's eyes fell on my untouched glass of lemonade.

"You haven't had any of your drink, do you want me to get you something else?" I shook my head but he ignored me and carried on. "We have juice, coke, 7 up, doctor pepper, I could even slip you some champagne if you want-"

"Really, I'm fine, thanks." I said. He looked a little embarrassed at my rejection of his help, but he quickly set his face back to happy.

"Ok, well let me know if you want anything, anything at all, and I'd be happy to help." He placed a hand on my lower back before collecting the plates walking away. I shuddered at the ghost of his touch and Seth, once again, laughed.

"It's not funny." I said.

"You know it is." I rolled my eyes but didn't say anything else. Dessert was served quickly (and thankfully by a different waiter) and was followed by the speeches. They were lovely, even if some of them (Emmett's) were a little inappropriate. After what seemed to be no time at all, the wedding meal was over and it was time for the reception. Anxiety crawled into my stomach - this was the part of the day I'd been most nervous about, I'd be expected to get up and mingle with humans that were sweating, a function which would heighten my attraction to their blood even further. My throat burned at the very thought of it.

I talked to Seth for a while. He was a funny kid, I enjoyed his company, but eventually the smell of blood got to be too much for me to breathe through, so I excused myself and walked away. I went and stood awkwardly at the side of the clearing which had been decked out for the reception, putting every ounce of willpower I had into controlling myself while also trying not to look strange. I was by myself for at least an hour before I felt someone tap me lightly on the back. I turned to see who it was and immediately recognized the waiter from earlier. My dead heart sank.

"Um, hello." I said.

"Hi, I'm Evan. I saw you were standing on your own and I thought you might want someone to talk to." I forced a smile.

"Oh, uh, thanks." I looked around, hoping there was someone near me I knew that I could slip off with, pretending that I'd been waiting for them all along. There wasn't.

"So what's your name?" Evan asked peppily.

"Bree."

"Ah, a beautiful name for a beautiful girl." He said. I cringed at his lame attempt at flirting, growing more and more embarrassed with every second. "So, Bree, how do you know the bride and groom?" I took a second to remember the story Carlisle and I had decided on together.

"The groom's my adopted brother." Evan's eyes lit up.

"Oh, so you live in that big house over there?" He gestured toward my home. "That's so weird, I live, like, fifteen minutes away. We should hang out some time, it would be fun." I screamed out in my mind for Edward to come and help me.

"Yeah, really fun." I said, trying to find an out of the conversation.

"So where do you go to school? I went to a private school about an hour out of here, but I just graduated." He placed a hand on my lower arm but quickly drew it away when he felt how cold I was. "Oh shit, you're freezing. Do you want my jacket? Here, take it." I protested, but it was already too late. Evan had draped his jacket around my shoulders and I was surrounded by his scent. Without my permission, my nose took a deep sniff and I felt the flames in my throat roar. Everything in my head went insane, similar to how it had that morning when Renee hugged me, only this time it'd been almost twenty-four hours since I'd last fed and there was nothing of Bella's scent, which I found fairly easy to resist, in this boy's blood. A small voice reminded me it would be all too easy to get the boy alone and drink from him. I could ask him if we should go somewhere more private and he, thinking he was about to get lucky with the girl he'd been eyeing all day, wouldn't think twice about obliging. The boy was mine for the taking. I was convinced I was going to give in to my thirst until I felt an arm around my shoulder and smelt Edward next to me.

"I'm very sorry, but I'm afraid I have to steal Bree away for a minute. There's someone very important she has to talk to." He said with a polite smile on his face. Edward removed Evan's jacket, put it over the waiter's shoulders, and led me away, not waiting for a reply. I soon as I stopped being bombarded by the teenager's scent, I was horrified with myself. I'd been a second away from killing an innocent human and throwing away everything I'd worked for over the previous two months.

"Oh my god." I whispered, too horrified at myself to raise my voice any higher.

"Don't feel bad, Bree." Edward replied.

"How can I not? If you hadn't come over when you did, I would've killed him. I'm just the same monster I was two months ago." Edward stepped in front of me, went down on his knee so we were at eye level with each other and placed his hands on my shoulders.

"Don't say that. You're a newborn, it's natural for you to slip up. Emmett, Alice, Jasper, Esme and I all have. You're not a monster." His golden eyes burned into me with the intensity of their stare. I cast mine down in shame. "Listen, if the smell is getting to be too much for you then you can go. The Denalis are leaving soon, do you want to go with them?" I considered his offer. He was right that the temptation was overwhelming me, and it would be nice to get to know my new cousins.

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea." I said.

"Alright. You go and get changed and pack whatever you want to take and I'll go talk to Eleazar." I nodded and turned to walk back to the house, but was stopped by Edward. "Oh, and Bree, say goodbye to Seth." I furrowed my brow, confused over Edward's last request.

With my new vampire speed, it only took me five minutes to get changed, take out the intricate bun Rosalie had put in my hair in and pack my backpack. I'd decided to travel light, taking only my i-pod, phone, two books and a single change of clothes. I didn't plan on staying with my new cousins for more than three days, so I didn't need huge amounts of luggage. After getting myself ready, I headed back down to where the wedding was being held and said my goodbyes to my family. Edward reminded me to go and see Seth before I left and said he wouldn't let me leave until he knew I'd done so. Still confused, I agreed and went off to find Seth. It only took me a minute to locate him, his scent was difficult to miss. He was sitting on a bench out of the way of the rest of the party, holding what looked and smelled like a beer.

"How'd you get that?" I asked, pointing to the drink.

"Oh, Emmett bought it for me." He replied. "Do you want some?"

"Vampire, remember?"

"What, even alcohol doesn't work on you? Bummer." He paused and looked me up and down. "Hey, why did you get changed?" He questioned, almost sounding offended that I wasn't wearing my outfit from earlier.

"I'm leaving to stay with our cousins from Denali for a few days. I wanted to come and say goodbye." Seth's eyes lit up and his face pulled into a smile. I decided not to mention that Edward had made me come and speak to him, thinking that would sound a little rude.

"Oh, really? That's so nice of you."

"I know. I'll see you later, Seth. It was great meeting you." I turned to walk away, but stopped when I felt a warm hand grab my lower arm.

"Wait!" Seth said urgently. "Can I, uh, get your number? Maybe?" Seth looked down, refusing to make eye contact with me. I saw blood rush to his cheeks.

"Um, yeah, sure. I'll put it in for you." He handed me his phone and I typed in my name and number before giving his cell back to him.

"Ok, I really do need to go now." I said.

"Oh, yeah, sure. Well, I guess I'll, uh, see you around." He stepped towards me and opened his arms slightly, the universal request for a hug. I considered just shaking one of his hands but, not wanting to make the situation any more awkward, moved toward him and stood up on my tip-toes, giving him a one armed hug around the shoulder. I waved goodbye and walked away so I could find the Denalis.

I found my cousins quickly and, upon seeing them, immediately became anxious. What if they didn't like me? They were going to be in my life for as long as I was alive, which could potentially be forever.

"Um, hi, I'm Bree." I said quietly. The man who could only be Eleazar stepped forward.

"Hello Bree, I'm Eleazar, and this is Carmen, Tanya, Irina and Kate." He gestured toward each member of his coven as he said their names. "We're all very excited to have you staying with us."

"I am too. I was planning on staying for maybe two or three days if that's ok with you?" Eleazar beamed, his face exuding friendliness.

"That's fine. We better start heading out now though, it's a long run back. At least thirteen hours." I disliked the idea of such a long journey, but knew there was no way around it. If I wanted to spend time with the Denali coven, I'd have to put up with a lot of running.

We set off on our long journey, all running at our top speeds in the hope of arriving at a reasonable time. After about three hours of straight sprinting, I felt my always present thirst intensify.

"Is it alright if we feed quickly?" I asked. I was a little embarrassed at having to stop, not only because it meant I was slowing everyone down, but also because it made it obvious that my appetite was not under control. Most vampires would be able to stick it out and wait, but not me. I knew if I didn't feed right then, I'd lose myself to my instincts if I wandered into the scent of any human. It was unlikely to happen since we were running through woods in the middle of the night, but it wasn't worth the risk.

"Yes, that's fine, I think we're all getting a little thirsty." Eleazar lied. All of their eyes were bright gold, a clear indication that they didn't need to feed. I appreciated his efforts to make me feel less abnormal, though.

It wasn't a difficult hunt. The forest we were in was full of sleeping animals, all waiting to be drunk from. I was finishing draining what would be my last dear when I heard the sound of twigs snapping nearby. Initially, I ruled the noise out as some nocturnal animal who'd gone against their better judgement and come to investigate what I was, but the second I breathed in I realized it was no animal, it was a vampire, and not one I was travelling with. I suddenly felt incredibly vulnerable; I was completely alone, the Denali coven were all scattered across the forest hunting. If someone tried to attack me, there was a very good chance I wouldn't get away.

"Who's there?" I called out, trying as hard as I could to keep my voice even. I waited for for a reply but got nothing. I looked around, frantically trying to locate the source of the scent I'd caught. "I'm stronger than you think I am. I'm a newborn." I hoped this would intimidate the mystery vampire, that maybe they'd assumed I was older and therefore easier to take down, but the smell didn't leave. I began to slowly back away from the general area that the vampire's scent was coming from, but stopped dead when I heard more movement. Suddenly, I saw something make its way across the forest floor. I knew it wasn't the vampire - their scent stayed still and whatever it moved wrong. I watched it creep closer and closer to me until something in my head clicked.

It was Alec of the Volturi's mist.

My reaction was instant. I sprinted away, screaming and crying out for help as I went in the hope that maybe one of the Denalis would be close enough to help me, but no one came. I kept running, but, after less than a minute, I felt the unmistakable feeling of momentary cold and then numbness of Alec's gift catching on to my ankle and slithering up my leg. I started to slow down and stumble, the lack of feeling in my left leg making it near impossible to run. The mist crawled further up my body, freezing and numbing as it went, until it reached my hips and I couldn't run anymore. I fell on my back. The mist moved faster now, consuming more and more until it reached my face and entered my eyes, ears, mouth and nose. For a split second, I saw a tall figure towering above me, looking down at the body that was no longer mine, but as soon as that split second was over...

Nothing.

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 **A/N - Ok so I know it's another time jump but I promise this is the last one for a long time. Hope you liked this chapter and PLEASE leave a review, they mean so much to me and motivate me on days when I don't feel like writing. Bye!**


	4. Chapter 4 - Stolen

**A/N- So... it may have accidentally kind of been three weeks since I last uploaded? I'm so sorry, there really aren't any excuses, I'm just lazy and terrible lol. I have to say though, I think the once a week schedule I tried to put myself on was a little unreasonable. These chapters are all coming out like 5-7k and with school I just can't write that much in a week the majority of the time, and I don't want to have to sacrifice quality for faster updates (not saying my work is of any quality at all, but I spend a lot of time writing and rewriting this so it comes out as good as I have the ability to make it and I won't be able to do that as much if I put myself on a strict weekly schedule). If I have any readers left I hope this is ok for you.**

 **The amazing reviewer came back and I'd like to reply to them so I'll just do that now**

 **Thank you for saying that about my characterization of Rosalie! Her and Bree's interactions were the ones I spent the most time on so I'm happy to see you enjoyed that. I think she's such an interesting character and it really does irk me when I see people limit her to the role of The Bitchy Blonde and never give her any development. So thanks haha. As for the Seth stuff, I did try and make some bits of it awkward (i.e. the 'saying goodbye' scene) but I'm sorry if you didn't like any of the Seth bits I put in. I really love Seth and I wanted to incorporate him into the story somehow, so maybe that was just me being selfish and wanting him in there lol. I did try and stay with the characterization he's given in canon though. With the Renee bit, honestly I know it was stretching canon a little but I felt like Bree would have needed some sort of confidence boost to her abilities of self control before the wedding in order to resist everyone's blood and that's just the way it came into my head. But thank you so much for saying my story made you happy, that's honestly such a lovely thing to hear and it brightened up my day.**

 **Anyway hopefully you like this chapter and please leave a review if you have the time. Enjoy the chapter!**

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Chapter 4 - Stolen

Five thousand, nine hundred and sixty-one seconds was the amount of time I was in that silent, empty darkness. It had only taken my vampire-fast brain a few moments to realize I was very possibly going to be confined to the Alec-induced blackness for a while, and that if I didn't do something, anything to occupy my mind I'd end up spending an indefinite amount of time thinking, rethinking and then overthinking my situation. So I counted. It'd been a good idea too, that was until I felt soft vibrations under me and heard the low hum of a car engine and had it quickly dawn on me that I had no idea what I was going to do.

I snapped my eyes open and gasped as my senses came back to me at once. I was lying down across what felt like leather, so I pushed myself up into a defensive sitting position at supernatural speed and wildly darted my eyes around. They fell on the only other person with me.

"What the _hell_ are you doing?" I spat. My tone was laced with venom and obviously livid. Alec looked up from the book he'd been reading and at me, his face a picture of apathy.

"Hello to you too." The boy's tone sounded uninterested and bored.

"Why am I here?" My voice wasn't as strong as it had been before, but it was still clearly angry. Alec shut his book and gave a large eye roll, as if my question was somehow stupid or unreasonable.

"You've caught my attention and I'm not entirely sure why. I'm taking you back to Volterra with me so I can work out what exactly it is about you that draws me to you. As soon as I've done that you will leave." My mouth hung open as my mind raced with the millions of questions his short statement had raised. What did he mean by 'caught my attention'? Was this why he'd let me live a month before when the Volturi were going to kill me? Where the hell were we now? Were we somehow already in Italy? I paused to try and work out what my next move should be.

"You can't make me do any of this." I said. "Your master, Aro, is a friend of the Cullens' and I doubt he'd be pleased if he found out you'd kidnapped the newest and youngest member of their coven." I tried to add a note of menace to my voice in an attempt to seem in charge of the discussion, infuriatingly, however, my words came out high-pitched and tight. In truth I was terrified of Alec, he would kill me in an instant if I pushed the wrong buttons and he'd do it with a smile on his face. I couldn't admit that though. Not if I wanted to be taken seriously.

"I'm not kidnapping you. You can get out of this car whenever and run home right now, I'm not going to stop you." My brow furrowed. Alec was smart, he had to be if he'd managed to survive in the Volturi guard, so surely he would be able to work out that I wasn't going to go through with his little plan of my own free will. "But," he continued, as if he'd read my mind, "I think it would be greatly... _beneficial_ to you and the rest of Saint Carlisle's disciples if you agreed to come back to Volterra with me." I remained confused for a second longer before it hit me: the relationship between the Cullens and the Volturi had been growing strained recently. If I didn't do what Alec wanted me to, the relationship between the two covens would become even more broken which would never be good for my family who were ultimately not as powerful as the Volturi.

"So you're not kidnapping me, but blackmailing me into doing what you say?" My stomach turned. It didn't matter what he said, he wasn't giving me a choice.

"No, I'm persuading you. There's a difference." I couldn't believe what I was hearing. This man - no, this boy - was sick. Completely and utterly sick. "So, what are you going to do?" He asked. I cast my eyes down, knowing there was no point in deliberation, I was never going to throw my family under the bus.

"You already know." I looked up at the teenager from under my lashes, expecting to see at least a hint of smugness or triumph on his face, but instead his features were straight and neutral, not a trace of expression.

"I thought you'd see things my way." He said, his voice as unreadable as his face. "We'll be arriving at the airport shortly. Ten minutes at most." I almost sneered at that - had the boy ever met a newborn before? I wouldn't have been able to keep myself under control in an airport, much less in a small, stuffy plane.

"I'm a newborn, I won't be able to control myself in a plane full of humans." Alec looked over at me like I was a flaming idiot - I'd expect no more reaction if I'd suggested that vampires don't like blood. I didn't want to admit it to myself, but it got to me a little bit, having him stare at me as if I was stupid. I quickly promised myself that I wouldn't let him upset me again, if I was to survive any sort of prolonged period around this boy then I'd have to develop a thicker skin.

"We're going on a private jet." He spoke like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Well... I don't have my passport with me. I won't be able to travel without a passport." Alec rolled his eyes and reached into a pocket of his dark grey coat. He pulled out an american passport and handed it to me. I opened it hesitantly to see my details written down, all correct with the exception of my name which had been put as 'Bree Voltur', and the passport photo I'd had taken a month or so before when the Cullens were forging documents for me. My heart sank, it seemed Alec really had prepared. I wordlessly handed the passport back to him and he, after pocketing it, returned to his book, signalling that the conversation was over. After a couple of minutes of empty silence, I risked a glance over at the boy. His eyes were still firmly locked on the pages of his hardback, so I let myself look a little longer, taking him in. He was physically young, around sixteen, and had dark chocolate hair that fell across his face. He was objectively handsome, I knew that, but his features were too close to Jane's for my liking. I couldn't look at him without seeing a ghost of the she-devil who'd tortured me for shits and giggles.

It wasn't long before we pulled up outside an airport. For a second, I was fine, but the moment I inhaled everything went wrong. My senses were overloaded with the scents of thousands of humans and the deafening sounds of their heartbeats. I clutched my throat in agony, the thirst burning as strong as it had my first day as a vampire.

"I can't go in there." I managed to splutter. Just as I finished my sentence, the doors to the airport slid open for a family of humans coming out of it, causing the fire to rage even stronger than before. I began to cry tearlessly from the pain, it was too much for me to cope with. The wedding had been difficult, but this was something else entirely. It was like how the hug from Renee felt, except this time instead of one person, it was at an entire airport of intoxicating, blood filled humans. I looked up at Alec, silently begging him for help. His face showed that he was taken aback, it was the most expression I'd seen on him so far.

"Ok, ok, calm down. Let me just..." The almost clear mist that I was all too familiar with creeped out of the boy's fingertips. I cringed away instinctively, but once the mist reached me, instead of spreading up my body and making its way into my face, it went directly toward my nose and, upon reaching it, down my throat. Almost immediately, the pain subsided, but it wasn't just the airport-induced burn that was gone- he'd taken everything. For the past six months of my life, there had been a subtle yet constant heat in my throat, an unfortunate and irritating side effect of being a newborn, but Alec's mist had removed it, leaving nothing but a feeling of cool emptiness behind. At first I didn't like the lack of pain due to how very alien it was to me, but after a few seconds of adjustment, it was liberating.

"Are you alright now?" Alec asked.

"This is... wow." I breathed, ignoring his question. I didn't speak again, I was too focused on the blissful removal of pain to even think about conversation, but Alec quickly grew restless and broke me out of my haze.

"Get your bag, we're going." His voice had a clear note of irritation to it and I, having snapped back to earth, didn't want to make one of the most dangerous vampires on earth angry, so obeyed. I pulled my backpack over one of my shoulders and nervously followed him in to the airport.

It only took around an hour to get checked in and arrive at the plane, but it felt like a lot longer. Almost every stare in the airport was following us and I, being my annoyingly shy self, was made wildly uncomfortable by this. I'd hated being the center of attention more than most things in both my human and vampire lives, so having thousands of pairs of eyes locked on to me, scrutinizing every move I made, was not exactly what I found enjoyable. That was only half of the problem though. Through the entire hour the pair of us had been in the airport, Alec hadn't said a word to me, and that deeply bothered me. I wasn't sure why, I wanted nothing to do with this spoiled little boy who thought someone 'catching his attention' was reason enough to kidnap them, he was everything I hated in a person, but still, somehow I was disheartened by his apparent indifference. I hated it and I hated my eager-to-please nature.

After what could have been years of showing my passport, being stared at, not talking and, of course, being patted down by a man in his fifties who I could've sworn I saw wink at Alec, we were picked up by a car that drove us to the private jet we were taking to Italy. From the outside, the plane looked pretty normal, if a little small, but as soon as I stepped in I could see where the Volturi had spent money. The interior was all white plushy armchairs and soft cream carpets, with flowers on every possible surface and honey colored wood accents. There was a full sized couch opposite a massive built-in TV, fitted with every games console imaginable on one end and a fully-stocked bar on the other (which was pointless considering none of the Volturi would be able to drink anything from a bar. They really were made of money). It was a picture of luxury. An air hostess showed us to our seats, putting me next to the window and Alec beside me.

The airplane soon began to roll along the tarmac, quickly gaining speed until it took off into the sky. I watched as the world below me grew smaller and smaller before we went above the clouds and all I could see was white in every direction. It was nice to look out of the window at the cottony world beyond the plane for a while, but with my newborn attention span the novelty of that soon wore off. I sat back in my seat and waited for the flight to be over.

After almost thirteen hours we touched down in Florence Airport. The journey had been uncomfortable in more ways than one; aside from having to sit in what was essentially a big metal box all night, something which any vampire would dislike, Alec hadn't made any attempts at conversation and I was too scared of him to try, so we'd sat in silence through the whole plane ride. It was awkward, to say the least. Maybe he hadn't felt it, in all his Volturi majesty, but I certainly had.

We checked out of the airport and were met by another expensive-looking car driven by a middle aged man with graying-brown hair and a surly disposition. He drove us through Italy for a little over an hour before dropping us off in on a dimly lit street corner somewhere in the city. I was confused at this, when Alec had told me he was taking me to Volterra with him I'd assumed he meant to the castle, but we were surrounded by shops and cafes.

"Why are we here?" I asked. Alec ignored me, instead making his way up the street with his eyes on the ground. "Why are we here?" I repeated, following him as he walked. He ignored me again and turned in to an alleyway. Alec led me a few more paces down the alleyway before stopping dead in his tracks.

"Get down this." He lifted the grille off of a drainage hole in front of him and gestured down to the darkness beneath it. I hesitated for a second but reluctantly did as he said, it wasn't like I had a choice after all. I jumped down the hole and landed on a concrete floor around twenty feet down. I was standing in a tunnel, wide enough for maybe three average-sized vampires standing shoulder-to-shoulder to get through but only a little over a foot higher than I was. It was completely unlit and would've been impossible to see in had I been human, but fortunately my enhanced vampire senses meant I could pick up my surroundings. Alec landed beside me. I opened my mouth to ask why we were there, but he got in before I could.

"Stay close to me and don't even _think_ about running away, these tunnels were built to be impossible for any intruders, human or vampire, to navigate them, you'll get lost in second a if you go off on your own." His voice was stern, cold and intimidating. If I'd had any plans about making a break for it, they were gone now.

I shadowed Alec as we worked our way through the complicated twists and turns of the tunnels. I tried to memorize the way we were going in case I ever needed to escape, counting how many lefts and rights we took, but even Alec took a couple of wrong turns and had to take us back the other way, so I wasn't confident in my idea. Eventually, Alec stopped us under a metal grille, similar to the one we'd entered the tunnels through, except this one was painted with a gold 'V', like the pendant on Alec's Volturi necklace.

"We're here." He said. He started to climb the iron rungs on the wall of the tunnel, toward the grille above him. Something told me that if I wanted to leave, that would be my last chance. After I got into the castle, there would be guards upon guards who would be able to stop me from getting away, I wouldn't be able to leave until Alec let me. I looked back at the tunnels behind me, and then up at the teenage boy above. With a sigh, I put my hands on the rungs and began to climb. I had to do this. For my family. In the two short months I'd been with them they'd already given me everything I'd been craving since I was a child and more, staying with the Volturi for a while was the least I could do to thank them. Besides, Alec had been right before, I would get lost in the tunnels almost instantly. There was no point in trying to run away.

Alec lifted the grille and pulled himself up out of the tunnel. I paused but followed behind him and placed the grille back over the hole. I looked around. We were standing in what looked like a reception area. There were chairs dotted around the room and a large desk with a human woman sat behind it. I touched my throat automatically and waited for my throat to burn, but felt nothing. I was confused momentarily but then remembered Alec was still using his power on me. I'd already gotten used to having it there. That was going to be a pain when he had to take it away.

We walked along corridors and up flights of stairs. I didn't bother counting which turns we were taking this time, there didn't seem much point. Alec stopped us outside a large wooden door with the word 'Alec' engraved in the center. He pulled out a key and used it to open the door. We both went inside.

"These are my chambers. You'll be sharing them with me while you stay here." He said. I didn't answer, just took in the room I'd been led into. It was huge, at least three times the size of my room back home. It had a running theme of crimson and black throughout it, from the walls to the antique furniture. I smirked slightly, what other colors would the world's most dangerous vampire's room be? I sat down on the king sized bed but then remembered that Alec was a vampire who didn't sleep and therefore would only have one use for a bed. I stood up again.

"That's fine." I said quietly. There was a heavy silence before Alec spoke again.

"I have to go on a five hour patrol now. Do what you want while I'm gone, I don't care, just make sure you're back here when I return." I nodded. Alec walked over to the dark wood closet on the opposite side of the room and began to rummage through it. "I advise that you don't leave this room while I'm not with you, but if you do then you'll need my scent on you." He tossed a plain black sweater onto a couch. "Put that on if you go out."

"Thank you." My voice came out even smaller than it had the last time I spoke. I mentally kicked myself for coming across so obviously terrified, it would only give him more confidence that he had total power over me. I didn't stand a chance of surviving this place. I dared a look up at Alec. His features were cold and stony.

"Just try not to get killed." He spat before turning and slamming the door behind him as he left the room. As soon as he was gone, the burn in my throat came back. It wasn't the worst it had ever been, but it was hard to ignore. I felt a tug of sadness, if I'd been home right then I would've gone hunting with Emmett and Jasper to get rid of the thirst. We'd have played 'who can find the biggest grizzly' before going back to the house and snuggling on the sofa with Esme and Alice to watch Grey's Anatomy, even though Alice had known everything that was going to happen for months and had to constantly bite her tongue to stop herself from spoiling it. After that I might have gone back up to my room to play The Sims on the new laptop Edward had bought me, or maybe I'd have gone to Carlisle's study and see if he was free for another history lesson. I could've also spent time getting to know Rosalie better since she'd finally accepted me, she might start teaching me how to fix up cars or give me tips on how to avoid becoming Alice's mannequin. I bit my lip as I felt a lump that wasn't really there form in my throat. I missed my family. I hadn't even been gone for a day yet, but the new world I'd been taken to was so alien, so far from the comfort of the Cullens that it felt like I'd been away from them forever. Not to mention the fact that I had no idea how long it would be before I saw them again, Alec had been as vague as possible when talking about why I was with him and when I could leave, it was possible that I wouldn't see the outside of the Volturi's castle for years. I sat down in one of the expensive looking armchairs that had been dotted around the edges of the room and unzipped my backpack in the hope that maybe one of the books I'd packed for Alaska would distract me from the cocktail of sadness, thirst and anxiety I had bubbling away in my stomach. I dug past the spare jeans, t-shirt, hoodie and underwear to the bottom of my backpack. Sitting there I saw the two books I'd brought with me, my i-pod and my phone. I narrowed my eyes slightly, I'd almost forgotten I'd packed my cell. I pulled it out of my bag, forgetting about the reading I was going to do, and switched it on. I wasn't certain it would even work when I was out away from America, but I had to try. My contact list flicked up and I scrolled through, until I came to Carlisle's name. I pressed the little green button on the keypad and waited. There was nothing but silence for at least ten seconds, but just as I was about to give up and switch my phone back off the ring came through. It was answered almost immediately.

"Bree? Bree is that you?" Carlisle asked. My heart sung at the sound of his voice, it was nice to hear something that was so familiar when I was in a world that was so foreign to me.

"Carlisle! Yes, it's me!" I exclaimed, probably a little louder than I should have.

"What's going on? Tanya called and told us you'd gone missing and Alice saw you getting on a plane with Alec from the Volturi. Are you safe?"

"I don't know, it's all so confusing. The Denalis and I stopped to hunt a few hours after we left the wedding, but Alec was there and he used his power on me. I'm in Volterra now, we got a plane here from Vancouver. He's gone at the moment, he said he went on patrol or something, but I'm in his room."

"Did he say why he took you? How long you'd be gone?"

"Kind of, it was vague. He said I'd caught his attention and he wanted to work out why, and that I'd leave when he figured it out." There was a pause. I couldn't hear anything down the line. "Carlisle?"

"Bree, I want you to listen very closely. You're going to go and find Aro and tell him what's happened. There's no way he's authorized Alec forcing you to stay in the castle with him, he wouldn't want-" I cut Carlisle off.

"He didn't force me to stay here though." There was another silence.

"What?"

"Alec gave me the choice to go home I just... couldn't." I gnawed on the inside of my cheek. I couldn't tell them the truth, that Alec had blackmailed me into staying with him, that he'd given me the choice between going home and destroying the Cullen-Volturi alliance or staying and salvaging it. If I did tell them, it would only do what Alec told me would happen if I went home before he wanted me to - ruin our relationship with the Volturi.

"Why couldn't you?" Carlisle persisted.

"I can't say." There was a shuffling over the line, like someone was snatching the phone away from Carlisle.

"Bree, sweetie, please come home. Whatever he's said or done, we can fix it, okay? We can all fix it together." Esme said. Her tone was soft and motherly, but there was an undercurrent of panic.

"I can't, I'm sorry." I forced the words out through gritted teeth. I wanted to accept Esme's offer and leave the castle more than anything, but I knew I couldn't. I had to stay.

"Yes you can, we're all here for you and-"

"She's not going to leave." Alice interrupted Esme. Her voice was further away from the receiver, she must have been on the other side of the room to Esme. By the sounds of it they were all there, bar Edward and Bella of course, listening to what was going on. There was more movement and when Alice's voice came back it was louder and closer. "Bree, my visions don't tell me why you're there, I just know that as it is now, you're not coming back, well, not today at least. I can also tell from your face that you don't want to be in that castle." I quickly adjusted my posture and expression, I hadn't thought about Alice being able to see me. "If you just told us why you can't come back, we could sort something out and get you home. We can't help you if you don't tell us what's happening." I bit my cheek even harder, I would've drawn blood if I was human. I was so tempted to give in and tell them what was happening, to run out of the castle as fast as I could, find the nearest beach and swim home, but I couldn't. I needed to protect the people who'd protected me.

"I'm sorry." I whispered. "I really can't tell you, and I can't come home." Cries of exasperation came through the phone, but no one spoke up to try and convince me to do what they wanted.

"Okay." Carlisle said. "If you're sure."

"Thank you, Carlisle." There was a short silence. "I'd better go, my phone's about to die." I lied. I needed to get out of the conversation. Maybe I could phone them back the next day when they weren't so anxious. Their distress only made me more scared, and I couldn't deal with that right then.

"Please be careful, Bree." Esme said, her voice full of maternal worry.

"I will be. I swear."

"Seriously, Bree." Carlisle added. "The Volturi's castle isn't a safe place, least of all when you're staying there with a vampire as deadly as Alec. You're an intelligent girl and I know you can do this but please just think twice before everything and always stay wary."

"I know, I promise I won't do anything stupid." I took a deep breath before my last words to the Cullens. "Goodbye, I love you. All of you."I took the phone from my ear and ended the call. The silence that followed pushed down on me from every angle as I felt an unmistakable sink of despair in my stomach. For the first time in months, I was completely and unequivocally alone.

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 **A/N - Hope you liked this! I'd just like to quickly give credit to panlight/keepingupwiththecullens on tumblr for the phrase 'Saint Carlisle's disciples', I thought it was really funny and definitely something certain members of the guard would say. If you haven't heard of panlight or their blog (which you most likely have) then go and check them out because they're one of my favourite blogs and they're great for twilight fans. But thank you for reading and please leave a review if you can. Bye!**


	5. Chapter 5 - New Faces

**A/N - ...So...seven weeks...I'm sorry! School is just doing the absolute most right now and although I do probably have the time to write I just struggle to find the energy, like I'll get home from school and have loads of really cool ideas to put into this fic but when I try to get any of it out onto my laptop I'm too exhausted to put the ideas into words. I know I'm a complete prawn for updating so late but I promise I'm really trying. Also I've spent the last two weeks writing a scene that I ended up removing all together because it just refused to work (it was an Aro scene for those that are wondering) so if that hadn't happened this would have taken five weeks to come out which is still horrible but less horrible than seven weeks. I don't know if this will happen again, hopefully it won't, but if I am gone for ages again please know that I probably haven't decided to stop writing this fic, I'm most likely just too tired/bogged down with school to write anything.**

 **I got a couple of reviews which I'm gonna respond to now:**

 **Guest - Hello again! First of all thank you so much for calling my fic "the light of my life", that is genuinely one of the nicest things anyone has ever said to me and it means the absolute world to hear that. Also, I love those authors too! They're all really talented and Oy Angelina's Alec/Bree fics are actually what inspired me to write this in the first place. Anyway, I agree with what you said about 12 year old Alec being sweeter than 16ish Alec, I don't think he'd actually be anywhere near as angsty if he was 12 haha. But thanks for saying you like my version of Alec, I've worked really hard on him to make sure he's not just a carbon copy of another writer's interpretation of his character so it's nice to know I've succeeded in that so far. As for the stuff with the Cullens, sorry you didn't like it as much, I'll be honest with you, I did have a bit of trouble writing that part. But thank you for your review, it's great to hear from you again, and I hope school and homework is getting better for you now.**

 **Nualie - Thank you for reading and reviewing! I'm glad you liked it so far. But I'm sorry about the makeup thing, I hadn't heard that before, but now that I think about it it makes sense. I'll definitely remember that for the future.**

 **Ok, now for the chapter. Please leave a review if you can, they really make my day and do motivate me to write. Thanks!**

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Chapter 5 - New Faces

It was a couple of hours before anything particularly exciting happened. I tried reading one of the books I'd brought for Alaska first, but I couldn't get into it. I wasn't sure why, perhaps I just wasn't in the mood for reading, but since sitting in a despair fueled silence had proven to be mind-numbingly boring back on the plane and was therefore not an option, I decided to take a closer look around my captor's room.

There was a general theme of dark, old and expensive that ran consistently through everything from the furnishings to the wine-colored blackout curtains that were closed across the windows. However, despite the bleak atmosphere to the place, there were a few things that caught my attention. First of all, there was the huge mahogany bookcase that sat on one end of the room. I'd considered taking a book from it at first, but when I'd look closer I noticed the glass doors hinged on the front of it were padlocked shut, leaving the books trapped in a dark wooden prison. I could've broken the padlock off easily, of course, but that didn't seem like a good idea to me.

The other thing to spark my interest was the black upright piano that was tucked quietly away in a corner. Slowly, I made my way over to the instrument. Upon reaching it, I couldn't help but run my hand over the glossy woodwork, enchanted by its incredible craftsmanship. I didn't like to admit it, but it seemed to be even better than the huge grand piano that I'd spent hours poring over with Edward back at the Cullen house. Without thinking, I sat down on the black leather stool and lifted up the lid of the piano. I mentally flipped through the pieces of music I knew, trying to decide what to play, until I came to one of the melodies Edward had written for me a few weeks previous to help me learn. He'd composed a few pieces to help me with my new hobby over the couple of months I'd spent in the Cullen house, but that one was my favorite. It was light, quick, happy and, in that moment, exactly what I needed. I placed my fingers over the right keys, ready to play the tune.

That's when I heard the scream.

It was deep and male but clearly in pain, and was loud enough to jump me right out the piano stool. The sound was coming from deeper within the castle, maybe two or three floors down, and was almost directly below me. I eyed the sweater Alec had told me to put on if I wanted to leave the room. Carlisle had advised me to take caution and 'stay wary', and leaving the relative safety of Alec's room to investigate a blood curdling scream was possibly not the most careful thing to do, but I couldn't shake the image of some innocent person - human or vampire - being attacked by one of the torture-happy Volturi members lurking about the castle. In a moment of bravery, I threw on the three-sizes-too-big sweater and left the room.

The Volturi castle was difficult to navigate with all its identical, never ending corridors and unnecessary staircases, but luckily (or unluckily, depending on your perspective) there was more sound to follow. Not screams anymore, but crashes, like wood and stone being broken. I raced toward the source of the noise, closer and closer until I was just the turn of a corner away from the noise, but was stopped dead in my tracks by a shout from the same man who had been screaming before.

"Get off me you irritating wench, I did not take your camera! You must have left it.. Alec? Is that you?" _Shit_ I thought. I'd severely misread the situation. The man wasn't in any danger, it was just a petty squabble over a camera. And I'd walked right into the middle of it.

"That isn't Alec." A woman's voice said. "Show yourself!" She commanded. I stayed firmly put.

"Now!" The man ordered. There was a pause, a split second of decision time. I couldn't show myself to them, it was too risky. My best bet was to try and get back to Alec's room. I sprinted back the way I'd come, following the scent I'd left before. Unfortunately, the two Volturi members got the same idea and ran after me. I went as fast as I could, but so did they, and I was quickly caught. One of them pushed me to the ground, face down, and dug their foot into my back to keep me there.

"Who are you?" The woman barked. I didn't answer. The foot pressed deeper into my back, making me wince in pain "Answer me!"

"Bree! I'm Bree Cu-"

"Corin, get off her." The man said calmly.

"Why?"

"She's the new Cullen girl. _Alec's_ Cullen girl." The pressure on my back was instantly gone and I stood up and turned to look at my pursuers. I recognized one of them, the man. He'd been there both times the Volturi had come to forks. Carlisle had told me he was their tracker- Demetri, I remembered his name as. I hadn't seen the woman - Corin - before, though. She was around Rosalie or Emmett's physical age and tall with wild, bright red hair that fell just past her hips. Her face and figure were similar to Esme's in the way that they weren't as angular as most vampires', but instead soft and rounded. Carlisle had told me what he knew about her gift, although his knowledge on her seemed pretty restricted. From what he could gather, her power was similar to Jasper's in the way that it manipulated emotions.

"You shouldn't be out here, this place isn't safe. Especially not for little girls." Demetri said. I felt a flash of frustration at the words 'little girl'. I'd been called that more times than I could count in my short life as a vampire and it never failed to make me feel inferior.

"Why? Jane's just as much a kid as I am and I doubt you're telling her she should stay in her room all day." I snapped. The words had spilled out before I could stop them and for a split second I tensed, ready to run again if the two vampires took offence to my outburst. Demetri looked a little annoyed, but Corin simply laughed. It was a nice, friendly laugh that put me more at ease with the situation, even if it was only by a little bit.

"I wouldn't let her hear you say that." Corin said between scoffs. "She has a tendency to torture people who piss her off."

"Yeah, I know all about that." I muttered, cringing at the memory of two months before when Jane had been kind enough to show me her talent.

"Most of us do. The only guard member she hasn't used her...gift on is Alec." I frowned a little.

"Really? I'd have thought she would've used it on him by now."

"Oh, god, no, Alec's the only person Jane would never hurt. She'd do anything, kill anyone to keep him safe. That's the first thing you learn about her." Corin's eyes suddenly widened as she realized she'd said something she probably shouldn't have. "I... I mean... maybe she would. I'm probably wrong, Jane's a very unpredictable person, you can never be certain what she'll do..." She trailed off. There was a short but undeniably awkward silence before Corin came back in at full energy.

"Anyway, how long are you staying?" Her cheery tone came across a little forced, but I didn't acknowledge it.

"I don't know, Alec basically said I'm here until he's bored of me." Okay, so maybe those weren't his exact words, but that was what he'd meant. "If you've got any guesses on how long that might be they'd be more than welcome."

"I'd love to help you but I honestly don't know. He's like Jane, unpredictable and temperamental... in the best possible way of course." My heart sank a little. I hadn't expected her to know anything, but it would have been nice to get some sort of guess as to how long it would be before I saw my family again.

"I thought you'd say something along those lines." I mumbled sullenly.

"Just being honest with you." Corin said with a shrug. "It's not as horrible as you think it is here though. There's plenty to do and as long as you mind your own business no one will bother you." She paused and thought for a moment. "Actually, I doubt anyone would bother you no matter what you did. You're _Alec's._ " I felt a strong pang of irritation at Corin's last statement.

"What do you mean 'Alec's' _?_ I don't belong to him." Corin put her hands up in front of her defensively.

"Hey, calm down. I didn't mean it like that. I was just saying that you're his guest so that gives you protection. No need to get so angry." Corin waited for me to reply. I was still a little annoyed at what she'd said, but pressing the matter seemed pointless.

"Oh. I guess that makes sense." I said. Corin gave a bright smile.

"I know it does." There was another short pause, but this time it was Demetri who broke the silence.

"So, what is our _dear_ friend Carlisle up to these days?" The man's voice was laced with venom- he clearly did not think of Carlisle as a 'dear friend'. I responded with equal measures of acidity in my tone.

"Well, you saw him a month ago. He hasn't fallen off the animal blood bandwagon since then."

"Ah- just as I suspected. He's forced you into that vegetarian nonsense too. I should've known really- now I look at them, your eyes are already turning that awful shade of yellow." Corin shoved her coven-mate conspicuously, but he ignored her.

"Carlisle didn't force me into anything," I said through gritted teeth "I was the one who decided to not drink human blood. All he did was explain that we have another choice." Demetri laughed obnoxiously.

"Oh, you Cullens do crack me up. You're just so...infatuated with Carlisle, there really is no reasoning with any of you when it comes to him. He's manipulating you, all of you, and you're too blind to see it."

"Shut up, Demetri." Corin butted in before giving Demetri another, slightly harder shove.

"No. I won't. She needs to hear the truth about that snake."

"Don't call him that." I said, my voice beginning to rise.

"I shall call him exactly what he is, a controlling, manipulative, self-interested liar."

"Stop it! Stop talking about him that way!" I shouted. Demetri scoffed at me.

"This is exactly what I was saying, one bad word about their precious Carlisle and they get hysterical."

"I'm not hysterical!" Demetri scoffed again.

"Are you seeing this, Corin? The lack of self awareness is truly remarkable."

"Demetri, please stop." Corin said. She sounded desperate now, she could tell I was getting angry and that was never a good thing for a newborn to be.

"Why should I? You know I'm not lying and so does she. Carlisle is not at all the innocent saint he makes himself out to be. He preys on the vulnerable and the weak minded and tricks them into thinking they owe him something. It's clever, I'll give him that, but it's evil." Demetri turned to me. "You know, little girl, you can look down on the Volturi all you want. You can think us corrupt. You can think us cruel. But that will never change the fact that Carlisle is no different than Aro." That did it. There was a lot of things Demetri could say to me, but comparing my coven mate to a Volturi member was not one of them. My vision clouded in a red haze and I felt rage like I'd never felt before. I wasn't in control anymore, but I didn't want it back. A snarl escaped my throat and somewhere in the back of my mind I registered Corin begging me to calm down and Demetri's unbothered expression. He'd been provoking me, trying to make me lash out. Maybe there was a time when this would have made me calm myself down, when I would have refused to give him the satisfaction of making me attack him, but I was a newborn vampire and the concept of controlling my emotions was a foreign one. I leaned down and forward slightly, readying myself to strike, when a voice rung out through the corridor.

"What on earth is going on down here?" Alec asked from the other end of the hallway. He was furious, that much was clear, but what wasn't so obvious was who his anger was directed at. I bolted up into a straight standing position without a second thought, the urge to hurt Demetri just a memory. All I could think about was self preservation now.

"Corin and I were just getting to know Bree." Demetri replied calmly. In the blink of an eye, Alec was next to me, his hand firmly gripping my arm just above my elbow.

"Oh, is that so?" Alec said, standing over me in a way that was obviously meant to be threatening. I glanced into his eyes for less than I second, but that was all he needed to terrify me. His gaze smoldered with fury- I wasn't even sure why. I'd done nothing wrong by being out, and although I'd lost my temper at Demetri, he'd said terrible things about my and family and me, any other vampire would've reacted the same way. But still, he wasn't happy. "I hope you all managed to get yourselves acquainted."

"We most certainly did." Demetri's voice was sickeningly professional, worlds away from what it had been just moments before. Surely Alec wasn't falling for it?

"Well, we best be off. Apparently, Bree and I have some catching up to do. We'll see you both later." Alec didn't wait for a reply. He began to speed walk back to his chambers, dragging me along by the upper arm behind him. His fingers dug painfully in to me.

"Ow- Alec you're hurting me, let go." The vampire responded only by diggings his fingers further in, making me cry out in pain. Fortunately for my arm and unfortunately for the rest of me, it wasn't a long walk back to Alec's room if you knew where you were going and we were behind his door again in little time. The second we were, however, Alec didn't hesitate to give me hell.

"What in god's name were you thinking?" He yelled. Somewhere in my head I realized that this was the closest thing to emotion he'd shown since I met him.

"What?" I asked, genuinely confused.

"You know exactly what, don't play the fool."

"I can't say I do." Alec took a step closer to me, which I responded to by taking a step away from him. This was possibly not a great move, however, since my back was now firmly against the wall.

"Picking a fight with Demetri!"

"I didn't pick a fight with him." My voice rose in anger, there was no way I would let the blame fall to me.

"Oh really? So the growling and the attack stance was just friendly banter?"

"No, but I wasn't out there to start a fight with him. You should've heard the things he was saying about Carlisle-" Alec didn't let me finish.

"I don't give a damn what he said about Carlisle. If I hadn't turned up when I did you'd be lying disassembled on the castle floor right now."

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't realize that you were my knight in shining armor!" I was shouting now. It felt unnatural, I hadn't done it since I was a child when I'd learned that raising your voice above a loud whisper warranted a harsh beating. I screamed out of pain or fear, that was for sure, but never shouted.

"Could you please, just for one conversation, stop being so immature and realize that I'm trying to help you? Demetri is over a thousand years old and far more intelligent than you could ever dream of being. You may be slightly stronger than him right now but he's been trained to deal with silly newborns like you by the very best and could end your life before you would even know what was happening. The same thing goes for all the vampires in this castle." I lifted my gaze, which had fallen to the floor at some point in Alec's speech, to meet his.

"Why do you care?" I asked defiantly.

"What?"

"Why do you care about what happens to me? You just said all I am is a silly newborn, why does it matter to you if Demetri, or anyone, kills me?" He didn't say or do anything for a moment, seemingly taken aback at what I'd said, but almost as soon as I'd spoken everything drained from his face, all the anger, all the frustration, gone, and he was back to the apathetic, bored teenager he'd been when I'd seen him before.

"I don't care about you, but Aro would have my head if anything happened to one of Carlisle's little projects while they were staying with me. However you have made it abundantly clear that you don't want my help, so I doubt I'll be expected to give it anymore." His tone matched his expression- cold, detached and without a hint of expression. My stomach turned as the realization hit me that whatever protection I'd had was gone, all because I'd been idiotic enough to forget that I wasn't with the Cullens anymore, I was with one of the deadliest vampires in the world, who didn't care about anyone but himself and his demon of a sister. I took a deep breath and wiped all the emotion from my face. Perhaps, being a newborn, I wouldn't be able to control how I really felt, but that didn't mean I couldn't change the way I presented myself. I needed to seem just as apathetic and unfeeling as Alec.

"Thank you for your honesty." I said icily.

"You're welcome." He returned. "Now, if you don't mind, I've got some very important Volturi business to deal with, so if you could find something quiet to keep yourself busy with, that would be great." Without another word Alec turned around, walked to his desk and sat down before reading through some papers in front of him. I moved to a chair in the opposite corner of the room to him, I wanted as much distance between him and I as possible. He was possibly my least favorite person in the world right then. He was too complicated, too dangerous. Everything about him was wrong, even his face grated on my senses. Maybe it was because I'd been so used to people like the Cullens, people who were kind and generous and... good, all things Alec wasn't as far as I was concerned. I caught a glance of myself in one of the mirrors and realized I was still wearing Alec's sweater. I pulled it from my body as quickly as I could, almost tearing it in half in the process. But it wasn't enough. His scent still clung to me and my clothes, like ivy gripping and choking an old oak tree- it would be a while before it washed out. Maybe it never would. Maybe Alec's scent would stick to me forever. I couldn't imagine anything worse.


	6. Chapter 6 - Old Faces

**A/N - Hey, I've got the new chapter! And I also took less than a month writing it! Yay for me! (Ok, so maybe was only one day less than a month, but that's still better than I did last time. I'm sorry, I'll try to get better). Also I'm honestly very happy with what I've done here. I didn't actually think of The Big Thing that happens in this chapter until I started writing it and I've got big plans for it (I realize I'm probably not making sense to any of you right now, but after you've read this update hopefully you'll understand my excitement). I'm just gonna answer a few reviews quickly and then we can get right into the chapter.**

 **Reader - Haha 'cold and aloof' are exactly what I'm going for with Alec, like those are literally the words I had written down for my characterization of him when I was starting this! Glad to that see all that is translating into what I'm actually writing. I'm really glad you like my fic.**

 **Nahannah - Ok so first of all thank you for reading my story, I love your writing so fucking much and it's amazing for me that you're enjoying mine. Second, that's also completely what I was going for lol. I wanted the two of them to be on pretty much opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of personality because like they always say, opposites attract. Thank you for saying all those lovely things about my writing, they made me really happy!**

 **Ok, here's the chapter! I hope you love it and please leave a review if you have the time, they mean a lot to me and are really good motivation. Enjoy!**

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Chapter 6 - Old Faces

It was around midday when I interrupted the silence. By that time, Alec and I had been sitting and not talking for about three hours. It might have seemed boring to an onlooker, but right then I was as happy as I could be in Volterra. I didn't want to talk to anyone, least of all Alec, so curling up in an armchair, playing 'Snake' on my cell phone and not interacting with anyone was pretty much ideal. But all good things must come to an end, and this one did when my annoyingly persistent newborn thirst reared it's ugly head.

"Alec?" I said.

"Yes?" He replied, not looking up from his work.

"Is there anything I could drink?" He didn't even try to repress his sigh. It bothered me a little, I couldn't help needing to feed.

"We don't have any animals here."

"Well do you have a forest nearby that I could hunt in?"

"No." He said, still not looking up from the paper on his desk.

"There must be some sort of-"

"I said we don't."

"Then what should I do?"

"Heidi should be bringing in some humans within the next couple of weeks, we can arrange for some livestock to be brought in then." A thirst fueled panic alarm went off in my head. It must have been a very long time since Alec was turned, because there was simply no way any newborn would be able to go without feeding for two weeks- even three days was a stretch.

"I can't go that long without blood." I was starting to get scared, the idea of living with a fire in my throat for two weeks horrified me, I doubted I'd be able to stay sane for five days, let alone a fortnight.

"Yes you can. I'll numb you."

"No I can't, you won't be here to numb me all the time and I'll be in so much pain, please, Alec." The terror building up inside me was obvious in my voice, I sounded like I was on the verge of tears. I wasn't, of course, since crying was a biological impossibility for vampires, but I was still very clearly distressed. I hated myself for showing emotion, but I was feeling too much of everything to keep a calm exterior. Alec looked up from his work for the first time in hours and stared straight at me before letting out another sigh.

"The most I can do is call the receptionist and ask her, she might be able to sort something out." He said, before picking up the receiver of the phone on his desk and punching in a number. A cheerful sounding woman answered. Alec spoke to her in Italian for a minute or so before putting the phone down.

"What did she say?" I asked.

"She said she'd do what she can." I almost thanked him, but stopped myself before the words could get out. I wasn't going to thank him. He didn't deserve it.

More silent time passed. I went back to playing 'snake' on my phone, although I was losing the occasional game now, as opposed to winning every time like before. My thirst was beginning to distract me, and I started to worry about how long it would be before anyone could get hold of some blood, however I shouldn't have stressed since only a little over an hour later the phone rang again. Alec and the woman on the phone spoke more Italian and after he ended the call, Alec turned to me.

"Your blood has arrived, we need to go down to the feeding room." I stood up wordlessly and followed Alec out of his chambers and through the castle until we came to a large pair of double doors. I could already smell my meal, but was unable to put my finger on what exactly it was. The animals in there were carnivores, and judging by the heartbeats there were a fair few of them, but I wasn't familiar with their scents. Alec opened the doors to reveal a large room. It was probably very nice, there were a lot of pale colors and natural light, but my focus was not on the architecture. Instead, my attention was pulled by the four Bengal Tigers huddled together in the middle of the room.

"Oh my god." I breathed.

"Marvelous, aren't they?" I looked up from the tigers in surprise. I hadn't noticed anyone else, but now I looked I saw Aro, sitting in one of the three thrones at the head of the room. It had been him who had spoken.

"How did you get them?" I asked.

"A magician never tells his secrets, dear one." He replied with a soft laugh. "Please, go ahead, drink." He kept his eyes fixed on me. It made me a little self-conscious, knowing he would watch me feed, but when it came down to it I was too thirsty to care.

After a couple of minutes, I'd drained all four tigers. As soon as I was done, Aro stood from his throne and began to clap.

"Bravo!" He exclaimed. "Well done, young Bree, that was thoroughly enjoyable."

"Thank you." I replied, not quite sure what else to say. Aro made his way over to me.

"Delightful to see you again." He moved his hand down to mine, pausing just before we touched. "May I?" I nodded. He took my hand and, just like before, every thought and memory I had flew up in my mind before disappearing in an instant. It was just as unpleasant as it had been the last time, but the ordeal only last for a second or two, although it felt much longer.

"What a beautiful wedding!" Aro cried. "So elegant, so romantic! Alice should be very proud of herself for planning such a wonderful event, you must give her my highest compliments."

"I'll make sure to."

"It's lovely to see you settling in to your new coven so well, everything seems to be going brilliantly, although I must say it was perhaps a little... risky to have you attend the wedding. You're still very young after all." My anxiety went up a notch at that. I couldn't see the Volturi prosecuting my family or me for going to the wedding, I didn't have any real slip ups after all, but you could never be sure with them.

"Esme insisted I went, she thought it was important for me to help bond with everyone."

"Ah yes, I can understand how it would be difficult to say no to Esme." He said with a chuckle. "Oh," he continued, "I must apologize for Demetri's lack of etiquette earlier on. It was entirely unnecessary and very irresponsible of him to try and provoke a newborn." I shifted slightly, uncomfortable at the delicate subject matter.

"It's fine, really. No harm done."

"Perhaps not, but know that I will most certainly be having very strong words with him. I promise you, Bree, that sort of behavior is not tolerated within the Volturi." I nodded and smiled politely. "Although, I must say, that meeting wasn't all in vain."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"You seem to have struck a rapport with Corin. I took her hand not two hours ago and from what I could gather from her thoughts she took to you like a duck to water."

"Really?"

"Oh yes. She thought you were delightful and handled Demetri superbly for a newborn. I must say I agree, most six-month-year-old vampires would've attempted to tear him limb from limb without hesitation." I beamed involuntarily, a buzz of pride and happiness warming my stomach. Not only because Corin liked me, but also because I was finally doing something right. Up until the past couple of days, I'd been nothing but a loose cannon of a newborn, just a problem for the Cullens to try and fix, but I was finally starting to show some progress.

"Thank you." I said.

"You're more than welcome. Now, unfortunately I must leave you now, I have a lot to be getting on with. I'll have our receptionist, Bianca, order some clothes for you. It was lovely to catch up with you again." With that, Aro left the room at vampire speed. I turned back to Alec who had been silently waiting the whole time.

"I guess we'd better go then." I said. Alec nodded and walked out of the door and started to make his way back to the room. I followed him at first, but about half way through the journey back to his chambers I stopped dead in my tracks.

"Alec, I'm gonna go off on my own for a bit." Alec stopped too and faced me.

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"Well, I'm a bit bored of just sitting around in your room and not doing anything. This is such a huge castle, there's got to be something to do here other than just play on my cell phone." Alec looked unconvinced and stayed silent. I prayed that he'd say yes and let me stay away from his room. I was planning on exploring the castle, because while playing 'snake' without talking to anyone was good for passing time, I felt that if there was a situation where I needed to leave the castle quickly (which there very possibly would be) it would be helpful to have a feel of the layout. Alec narrowed his eyes like he was figuring out what I was trying to do, but after a few moments of nothing, he gave in.

"Okay, just try not to be too long, I don't want to have to go and look for you." I felt a surge of triumph in my stomach. "You should probably take this, though." He said, pulling at his navy blue sweater. I gave a little groan, I hated having his scent so close to me, it was almost unbearable.

"Why? I still smell like you from earlier." I replied.

"I told you, you're my responsibility, if you get hurt I'm the one who's punished. I have to be as careful as possible." I rolled my eyes but, reluctantly, agreed.

"Fine." I said. Alec grabbed the edge of his sweater and pulled it over his head. This should have been uneventful, but his T-shirt underneath got caught and went with it, riding up an inch or so above his bellybutton, in turn revealing a lean, pale abdomen. It wasn't a _horrible_ stomach, I'd grant him that. It was tight and lean and had one those 'V' line things. There was also the fine trail of hairs that began at the bottom of his bellybutton and slipped right underneath the waistband of his jeans, but that was not something that I noticed. Not at all. Just as soon as it was revealed, Alec's stomach was covered by his T-shirt once again. He handed the sweater to me and I put it on.

"Be back by six." He instructed.

"How about seven?"

"No, six." At that, he turned and continued his way back to his chambers. Without another second of hesitation, I began to explore the castle.

I wandered the castle for quite a long time before anything happened. I hadn't found anything massively interesting up to that point- just the same stone hallways lined with renaissance art and locked doors. Occasionally one of the doors had a name carved into its wood, but those were few and far between. At the start of my travels I was scared of having another incident like the one with Corin and Demetri, so kept close to the walls and always peaked around a corner before turning it, but thankfully, the place was so massive I hadn't managed to pass anyone else, which meant that after a while I felt comfortable enough to walk freely and look inside rooms that weren't locked. After a good ninety minutes of exploration, I came to a door that was slightly ajar. Looking into the room I could immediately tell it was a library. Under usual circumstances I would've simply remembered where that room was and come back to it another time when I wasn't busy, but just as I went to go back to my exploring, I caught a scent that prickled something inside me. It was familiar but in a strange way- I knew it had to be from my vampire life because it wasn't the sort of smell I'd have been able to pick up on as a human, but it was murky and vague like a human memory. It was almost like the scent didn't want to be remembered...

And then it hit me.

I pushed the door further open and walked across the threshold of the library to see the back of a broad-shouldered man with a head covered in blond curls.

"Fred? Is that you?" I asked. The head pricked up and turned to reveal the face of a handsome, pale twenty year old, confirming what I already knew.

It was him.

His face shifted from neutral, to confusion, to pure shock, all in a second. He dropped his book carelessly and stood up to his full height.

"Bree?" Fred breathed. There was a long pause that hung heavy in the room. I did nothing and neither did he for a solid five seconds, but as soon as those five seconds were over he was across the room, squeezing me in a too-tight hug. I was at a loss for words at this, Fred never seemed the hugging type, but after a moment of surprise I went with it and squeezed him back.

"I thought you were dead." He said, still keeping me tight in the hug. Fred held on to me for a little longer before letting go. "What happened? Why didn't you come find me?"

"It's kind of a long story..."

"No, please, tell me. Here, sit down." He gestured toward the couch nearest to us. I walked over to it and sat down, and he sat next to me. "Wait, where's Diego? Is he here?" I felt a sting of sorrow. I looked down and simply shook my head. "Oh, I'm so sorry." Fred said.

"It's fine. I just try not to think about him." I said, hoping this would be enough to move the conversation away from Diego.

"Yeah, of course." There was another short pause. "So, what happened after I left? Why didn't you come to Vancouver?" I explained what had happened, that the 'yellow-eyes' as Riley had called them were actually kind, good vampires that let me surrender, and that after being shown mercy by Jane they'd taken me in. He seemed to understand that I couldn't go off on my own after the Cullens had adopted me because the Volturi could see that as breaking the agreement and therefore the law.

"So what about you?" I asked when I was done. "What happened to you after we split off?"

"I went over to Vancouver like I said I would and waited for you and Diego. When you didn't show up, I knew I had to lay low for a while in case Riley tried to come back for me or something, so I hid out in the Tonto National Forest in Arizona. After a few weeks I assumed if anyone was coming for me they'd have done it by then, so I headed up to New York. I'd always wanted to go but never got the chance to as a human, and I was sure it would be easy to find blood because of the dense population, so I figured it was kind of perfect. I was there about a week before the Volturi found me. They'd had business in the country, I don't know where, but after reading my mind Aro seemed kind of curious about me. I was keen to learn more about vampires since I knew I couldn't believe a word of what Riley told me, and Aro offered to let me stay here while I learned about our biology and our history so it would've been ridiculous of me to say no. I've been here about a month now." I chewed his story over for a moment before replying.

"How long are you planning on staying?" I asked.

"Honestly, I don't know. At first I thought I'd maybe be here for a month or two, you know, to see my newborn year out in a place where there's rarely any humans, but I like it here." My eyebrows knotted together a little. I couldn't understand why any normal person would like it in Volterra.

"Why?" Fred thought this over for a moment.

"I guess it's... restful in a way. In my vampire life I've either been surrounded by insane, vicious newborns, constantly worrying about being dismembered and thrown on a fire, or completely alone but still paranoid about people finding and killing me. Here, I don't have to worry about any of that. I'm safe, I can choose who I'm around, there's loads of things I can keep myself entertained with. I don't know, I suppose I just like not having to be scared anymore."

"I don't really think of this place like that." I admitted "It's so dark and miserable, like a prison. Then again, I suppose in a way, it is a prison for me." It was Fred's turn to be confused now.

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"I can't leave, and you can't leave a prison."

"Why can't you leave?" I frowned. Surely he'd heard what had happened?

"Don't you know why I'm here?"

"I just assumed you were visiting with your new coven."

"Oh, no, they aren't...um. Well, basically, Alec kind of kidnapped me." I waited for a big, emotional reaction from Fred, maybe anger or even surprise, but he remained neutral.

"That explains the sweater then." He replied, as calmly as you'd have expected if we were discussing the weather. I huffed, annoyed at his apparent lack of concern. "What?"

"I was expecting a bit more of a response."

"Oh, ok. Well, in that case, I am very, very angry with Alec and shall be having strong words with him!" He said mockingly. I shoved him, half playfully, half out of irritation. "I'm sorry, I'm just not particularly shocked."

"Why not? Is abducting random teenage girls a common practice here?" Fred smirked.

"No, it's just... it seems the sort of thing Alec would do. I don't speak to him often, or at all, really, but I've spoken to other people _about_ him and... I don't know, I'm just not surprised."

"What have you heard?"

"I think a better question would be what haven't I heard."

"That bad?" I asked, my voice tinged with an obvious note of worry.

"Unfortunately. According to the people I've spoken to, he's cold, distant, and very used to getting his own way. Again, I haven't spoken to him much myself, but he seemed pretty unbearable going off of what other people have said." I believed Fred. Cold and distant I could vouch for, every time I was with Alec he was as removed and apathetic as possible, and Alec always wanting his own way wasn't hard to imagine. He had essentially kidnapped me out of boredom after all. "I'm sure you'll be fine though."

"You don't have to lie to me Fred, I know I'm screwed."

"You're not screwed. This place is huge, it wouldn't be hard to avoid him."

"I can't stay away from him." Fred raised an eyebrow. "No! I didn't mean... that was a bad choice of words, what I mean is that Alec forces me to hang out with him, even though he has literally nothing to say to me. It's one of the many things I can't figure out about him."

"Well, why did he bring you here in the first place?"

"Ugh, don't even get me started on that mess. He said that I 'caught his attention', whatever the hell that's supposed to mean."

"I think he means exactly what he says."

"Which is?"

"That he thinks you're special." I scoffed at that.

"There's nothing special about me, I'm the most average vampire going."

"That's not true!" Fred exclaimed. "You're kind, beautiful, intelligent, funny- there is nothing average about you."

"Thanks _mom._ " I replied. "And I'm average in the Volturi's eyes. I don't have a power, remember? That's the only thing they care about."

"What other explanation do you have?" I didn't reply, I had nothing to say. "Exactly."

"Look, I... I don't think that's it, ok? He's so rude and... if he thought I was special, he wouldn't treat me the way he does." Fred's expression changed.

"What do you mean by that? Bree, does he mistreat you?" He asked. I looked down to see Fred's hands clenching into fists on his lap.

"No, no, he just... he's rude and doesn't seem to care about me much, that's all I meant." He seemed to relax, but there was still a hint of tension in his posture, it was time to change the subject. "Can we talk about something other than Alec? I'm so sick of him, I just want to forget he exists. Besides, we haven't seen each other in so long, there's so much more for us to talk about." Fred happily obliged.

Fred and I chatted away for hours. He was so easy to talk to, everything just came naturally with him. It wasn't like with everyone else in Volterra, where I had to tread so carefully, making sure I wouldn't say the wrong thing or broach a sensitive topic, I could just... talk. Those were the happiest hours I'd spent so far with the Volturi. Of course, that naturally meant Alec had to spoil them. About three or four hours after I'd found Fred, the door to the library flew open, obtaining some fairly substantial damage as it went.

"Have you got any idea what time it is? I have been looking everywhere-" Almost as soon as they were there, Alec's shouts were gone as he saw Fred and I sitting together. "What's this?" He asked. I remained silent. "Well?"

"We were talking." Fred answered. Alec crinkled his nose as Fred spoke.

"Why?" Alec didn't try to hide the tone of disgust in his voice. Fred opened his mouth to reply, but I cut in before he could.

"So I'm not allowed to have friends now?"

"Friend? What do you mean by 'friend'? How do you know him?"

"He was in the newborn army with me." Alec pressed his lips into a thin line.

"Right. Well, we're going now." With a long sigh, I got out of my chair.

"I'll meet you here tomorrow." I said. Fred nodded and gave me a nervous smile, which I returned.

"Hurry up." Alec ordered. I reluctantly followed him out of the library and into the hall. We walked in silence for a minute or so, but eventually, Alec spoke.

"How can you stand to be around him?" He asked.

"Who?"

"Fred. How can you stand being around him with that repulsion thing he does?"

"Well, I guess he doesn't try and repel me. He lets me be around him." Alec didn't reply for a few seconds.

"Oh." His voice was tight. Neither of us spoke again.

We got back to Alec's room in little time. As soon as I crossed the threshold from the hall to Alec's chambers, I pulled of the sweater and threw it across the couch. I still couldn't stand having his scent wrapped so tightly around me, even if I should have gotten used to it by then. Alec sat down at his desk without saying a word, and pulled out a stack of papers which he began to sift through, just like he had earlier. I stood awkwardly for a moment, not sure what I was meant to do, before sitting down in the armchair I'd curled up in before.

"When can I leave again?" I asked.

"When I go on my next patrol."

"Which is?"

"6 AM tomorrow." I glanced over at the clock on the wall opposite to me. It read 7:04 PM, almost eleven hours before Alec would leave again. I groaned, the thought of spending an entire evening cooped up in the same room as Alec filled me with dread, he undoubtedly wouldn't say anything to me and eventually I'd run out of things to do, which would inevitably lead to me feeling completely awkward. It was going to be a long night.

* * *

 **A/N (READ THIS PLEASE) - I hope you liked the update! I have a few things I want to say quickly and I didn't really want to put them at the start because that note was getting too long. So first of all, I have some kind of important exams over the next few weeks so I'm not really going to be able to write very much. They finish on December 2nd, so it's not like I'll be gone for months or anything, but the next update might take quite a long time. I promise I'll try as hard as I can to get it up at within a reasonable time frame but if I stick to the plans I've made it's going to be a pretty long chapter anyway so yeah, that might take some time.  
** **I do have good news though! I'm really getting into fanfiction and the twilight community now but I don't have a twilight based social media platform other than this one, and I want another way to connect with people who enjoy twilight and fanfiction so I was thinking of starting a twilight/fanfic Tumblr. I already have a personal Tumblr account that I use almost every day so I know how to use the site but honestly fanfiction is a total secret from my friends and family and I have quite a few people I know on the Tumblr I have now so if I did do that it would have to be a seperate account, but I was just wondering if anyone would be interested in that? I'd be able to post updates on how my writing is coming along between chapters so you'd all know that I'm not dead and I'd be able to share pictures of things from this fic that actually exist (e.g. the dress Bree wore to Bella and Edward's wedding). So yeah, if you'd like that please let me know and I'd get onto it.  
Alright, that's it. Thank you for reading my fic and pleeeeeeaaaaaasssseee leave a review. Bye! **


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